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Master   St.   Elmo 


MY  MISTRESS  AND  I  HOME  AFTER  A  WALK 


MASTER  ST.  ELMO 

The  Autobiography  of  a  Celebrated 

Dog 


A  True  Story 


CARO    SENOUR/ 

Author  and  Composer  of  "Musical  Poems"  and  "Flower  Ballads" 


Thirty-eight  Original  Illustrations 


For  Sale  by 
MILTON    BRADLEY    COMPANY 

Springfield,  Mass.,  U.  S.  A. 


COPYRIGHT,  1904 

BY 
CARO  SMITH -SENOUR 


IQ.'b 


Dedicated  to 

BEAUTIFUL    JIM    KEY 

The  Most  Wonderful  Horse  in 
the  World 


4-t        ty 


ILLUSTRATIONS 

PAGE 

MY  MISTRESS  AND  I  HOME  AFTER  A  WALK  -      Frontispiece 

How  DO  You  DO,  LITTLE  PEOPLE  ?    I  AM  ST.  ELMO        -           .  -  -  xv 

"JusT  THINK!    I  WAS  WORTH  AS  MUCH  AS  Two  OTHER  DOGS"  -  2 

MY  LITTLE  MASTER  "JAMES"  AND  HIS  PET  RABBIT        -  3 

KLONDYKE  -  5 

ADMIRING  OUR  LOVELY  BACK  YARD  -  21 

FRITZ  -  25 

THE  WOODEN  INDIAN  -•  27 

HAROLD  AND  I  CELEBRATING  THE  GLORIOUS  FOURTH  OF  JULY  -  29 

LIVE  DEER  AT  LINCOLN  PARK  Zoo,  CHICAGO        -  -  35 

LITTLE  BOY  BLUE  -  45 

"THEY  HAD  A  WAY  OF  MAKING  THEIR  HAIR  FRIZZ  UP"  -  53 

GUARDING  CAMP    -  56 

PIGGIES  THREE  HOURS  OLD  -  57 

I  AM  POSING  FOR  MY  PICTURE        -  -  59 

DONALD,  SLOAN,  MILDRED,  HAZEL  -  63 

NIP  -  66 

TOMAHAWK  ROCK  -  72 

"A  COLD  ELEPHANT,  AND  QUITE  TAME"  -  73 

Miss  GUESS  -  75 

Two  "BOSSES"  -  79 
"MY  THOUGHTS  TURNED  TO  MY  OWN  LIFE,  AND  I  COLLECTED  MY  FIRST 

FRAGMENTS  OF  THIS  LITTLE  STORY  FOR  YOU,  DEAR  CHILDREN"  -  80 
"THE  LITTLE  CHILDREN-COWS  DID  NOT  KNOW  BUT  THAT  I  WAS  THEIR 

BROTHER     -  -  81 

HANDSOME  PRINCE,  LINCOLN  PARK  Zoo,  CHICAGO  -  82 

MY  FRIEND  JACK  -  -  85 

GRATEFUL  PINTO  -  -  89 

"SHE  TOOK  THE  LIBERTY  ONE  DAY  TO  SCRATCH  ME  ON  MY  NOSE"  -  98 

QUENTIN  DURWARD                                                                 -  -  99 

ix 


x  ILLUSTRATIONS 

PAGE 

LOOK  AT  ME  !  TOGGED  UP  LIKE  A  GIRL  -  108 

"I  MYSELF  REALLY  CAN  SEE  THAT  I  LOOK  QUITE  MANLY"  105 

WILLIAM  GOATY  -  111 
WHEN  You  SEE  THAT  HIS  NAME  LOOKS  "BILLY  GOAT,"  RUN!  RUN! 

RUN!  -  112 

MY  REAL  COUSIN  "DAN"  -  116 

SEAL  OF  THE  LOUISIANA  PURCHASE,  1803  -  125 

LOUISIANA  PURCHASE  MONUMENT,  WORLD'S  FAIR,  ST.  Louis  -  -  128 

FESTIVAL  HALL  AND  CASCADE  GARDENS,  WORLD'S  FAIR,  ST.  Louis  -  129 

STATUE  ON  GOVERNMENT  BUILDING,  "  LIBERTY -A-QUADRIGA  "  -  -  135 

TEXAS  BUILDING,  IN  THE  SHAPE  OF  A  STAR  -  137 
BEAUTIFUL  JIM  KEY  SPELLING  " ST.  ELMO"  AT  THE  "WORLD'S  FAIR," 

ST.  Louis  -  -  141 

MY  PLAYTHINGS  --------  153 


INTRODUCTORY 

To  all  lovers  of  animals,  and  especially  of  dogs,  the 
"Autobiography  of  Master  St.  Elmo"  will  prove  a  delight. 
Many  of  the  stories  told  of  our  four-footed  friends  are  of 
homeless  waifs,  and  our  sympathies  are  enlisted  because  of 
their  lowly  estate. 

Not  so  with  the  story  of  "Master  St.  Elmo,"  which  is 
out  of  the  ordinary — a  life-tale  of  a  dog  of  high  degree,  an 
aristocratic  dog,  to  the  purple  born,  as  it  were.  No  one  who 
reads  the  true  history  of  this  celebrated  dog  can  fail  to  be- 
come interested  not  only  in  St.  Elmo,  but  in  all  other  dumb 
creatures,  for  it  reminds  one  that  animals,  like  human  beings, 
are  susceptible  to  kind  as  well  as  to  cruel  treatment. 

It  is  with  pleasure  that  I  introduce  this  book  to  the  public. 
Very  cordially, 

JOSEPHINE  TURCK  BAKER, 
Editor  "Correct  English." 


Through  the  kindness  of  Mrs.  Augusta  Evans  Wilson,  the 
Author  of  the  splendid  novel  entitled  "St.  Elmo,"  and  of  her 
publishers,  G.  W.  Dillingham  Co.,  I  have  permission  to  use 
the  title  for  my  book  "  Master  St.  Elmo."  The  hero  of  my 
story  having  been  named  for  the  hero  in  the  beautiful  story 

of  "St.  Elmo." 

CARO  SENOUR. 


MY   MOTTO 

By  being  kind  to  all  animals,  and  by  protecting  Horses  and 
Dogs,  you  are  befriending  man's  best  and  most  faithful  friends. 

-ST.  ELMO. 


How  DO  You  DO,  LITTLE  PEOPLE  ?     I  AM  ST.  ELMO 


MASTER  ST.  ELMO 


CHAPTER  I 

kOW  do  you  do,  little  people  ?  Permit  me  to 
introduce  myself.  I  am  St.  Elmo,  a  tan-colored 
English  greyhound,  and  I  am  six  years  old. 

I  have  a  wide,  white  collar  around  my  neck, 
a  white  shirt-front,  and  white  stockings  to  the 
knees.  On  my  four  feet  I  have  white  "Oxford  ties";  my 
face  is  the  color  of  my  body,  with  a  white  part  in  the  center 
of  my  forehead.  My  eyes  are  light  brown,  to  match  my 
hair.  I  am  going  to  be  very  personal,  and  talk  a  great  deal 
about  myself,  which  is  not  always  becoming,  but  I  wish  to 
impress  upon  your  minds  that  even  a  dog  can  reason,  and, 
therefore,  I  crave  your  forgiveness. 

I  am  different  from  you,  little  friends,  for  I  am  always 
dressed.  When  I  get  up  in  the  morning,  I  shake  myself,  and 
my  coat  and  pantaloons  are  on,  my  hair  is  combed  and  face 
washed.  I  do  not  need  a  nurse-maid  to  dress  me,  but  I 
seem  to  need  one  to  tag  me  around,  as  I  never  can  get  away 
without  some  big  person's  calling  me,  or  running  along  to 
watch  where  I  go. 

I  suppose  you  know  what  an  English  greyhound  is,  but 
I  do  not;  only  one  thing  I  feel  sure  about,  it  is  not  a  very 
complimentary  name,  for  I  heard  my  master  say  one  day, 
in  reply  to  a  question,  that  I  was  a  "JOHNNY  BULL";  then 
every  one  laughed. 

Well,  I  will  tell  you  how  I  happened  to  live  in  this  big 
city,  CHICAGO. 

I  was  born  way  down  in  TEXAS,  and  when  very  young  a 


MASTER   ST.  ELMO 

man  took  me  away  from  my  mother,  brothers,  and  sisters, 
and  brought  me  to  a  town  in  Kansas,  called  Topeka,  where 
the  wind  blew  so  hard  that  I  could  not  grow  any  hair;  it  all 
blew  off;  so  that  is  why  my  hair  is  so  short.  A  few  days 


"  JUST  THINK!   I  WAS  WORTH  AS  MUCH  AS  Two  OTHER  DOGS 


after  I  landed  in  that  very  windy  town,  I  was  spied  by  a 
little  boy  named  James,  who  told  the  man  that  he  would  give 
him  two  of  his  foxhounds  for  me  (just  think !  I  was  worth 
as  much  as  two  other  dogs) .  My !  I  was  glad  to  go  to  live 
with  that  little  boy,  for  the  man  was  cross  and  he  did  not 
know  how  to  play  with  puppies,  and  I  felt  sure  that  the  boy 
was  taking  me  for  his  companion;  so,  soon  we  were  the  best 


MASTER   ST.  ELMO 


of  playfellows.  I  felt  sorry  for  the  other  dogs  that  went  to 
live  with  the  cross  man,  who  had  taken  me  from  my  rela- 
tives (but  then  I've  heard  since  that  human  beings  sometimes 
give  their  babies  away),  so  may  be  he  was  not  so  very  bad. 
I  was  only  three  months  old  when  I  went  to  live  with  my 


MY  LITTLE  MASTER  "  JAMES  "  AND  HIS  PET  RABBIT 

first  little  master.  He  kept  me,  in  the  day-time,  in  a  yard 
with  a  wire  netting  around,  and  oh!  how  I  wanted  to  get 
out  and  play  in  the  other  dogs'  yards.  You  know,  children, 
other  yards  and  other  steps  seem  so  much  better  than  your 
own,  no  matter  how  nice  and  large  yours  are.  I  used  to 
poke  my  long,  pointed  nose  through  the  holes  in  the  wire 
fence  when  the  other  dogs  passed,  the  dogs  that  had  such 
good  times  seeing  the  town,  and  finding  their  own  food  and 
beds.  At  night  I  slept  on  straw  in  the  barn,  and  wanted 


4  MASTER   ST.  ELMO 

my  mother  and  brothers  so  much.  Do  you  know  that  all 
animals'  hearts  nearly  break  when  they  leave  their  loved 
ones  and  their  homes  ?  That  even  the  fierce  lions  mourn 
when  their  babies  are  taken  from  them,  and  when  they  are 
deprived  of  their  freedom  ?  I  used  to  cry  at  night  for  my 
mother. 

At  the  end  of  a  week  my  little  master,  James,  brought 
home  another  dog,  and  we  soon  became  chums,  and  made 
things  lively  about  the  place.  His  name  was  Klondyke— 
they  said  he  was  a  gold-mine.  Of  course  I  did  not  know 
what  they  meant  by  that.  He  was  white  with  one  black 
eye  and  a  black  tail.  Folks  said  that  he  looked  as  if  he  had 
fallen  into  a  coal-bin  when  coal  was  twelve  dollars  a  ton,  be- 
cause he  did  not  match  all  over.  Wasn't  I  glad  to  have  a 
bed-fellow  ?  He  was  short  and  fat,  and  I  was  long  and  lean, 
but  we  snuggled  together  and  told  each  other  our  troubles, 
and  after  a  time  we  felt  quite  contented  with  our  lot.  I 
rather  envied  Klondyke,  for  he  was  so  small  that  he  could 
sneak  out  under  the  fence,  and  he  used  to  see  lots  of  sights 
and  had  real  scraps  with  other  dogs.  What  a  hero  I  thought 
him  when  he  told  me  about  licking  a  dog  bigger  than  him- 
self. Sometimes  I  had  to  laugh  when  he  came  home  with 
the  other  eye  blacked,  or  his  leg  bleeding.  He  had  found 
to  his  sorrow  that  he  was  not  the  only  pugilist  in  Kansas. 
I  hope  you  will  pardon  me  for  using  words  like  "licking," 
but  my  little  master  said  these  words,  and  he  was  all  right 
I  thought,  although  he  often  got  a  whipping  for  saying  such 
words.  My!  how  hungry  I  always  was  before  mealtime. 
I  got  the  scraps  left  from  the  table  after  the  big  people's 
dinner,  and  as  there  were  three  dogs,  two  cats,  one  cow, 
a  riony,  two  rabbits,  and  lots  of  chickens,  sometimes 
I  did  not  get  filled  up.  I  then  wished  I  was  an  only  child. 

The  family  had  another  dog,  a  dignified,  well-bred  fox- 
terrier,  and  his  name  was  "REX"-—  that  means  king.  He 
came  before  we  did,  so  he  felt  his  importance.  He  took 


MASTER   ST.  ELMO 


possession  of  the  house,  where  we  were  not  allowed,  and 
he,  of  course,  got  the  best  things  to  eat.  I,  being  so  thin, 
there  was  a  big  place  to  fill  in  my  stomach,  consequently  I 
went  to  bed  hungry  many  a  night,  and  I  don't  know  whether 
even  now  I  ever  get  filled  up. 


KLONDYKE 

That  was  a  pretty  good  home,  but  not  the  one  I  have 
now,  which  I  wrill  tell  you  about  later.  My  little  master 
showed  partiality  (something  a  parent  never  should  do). 
He  would  let  Rex  follow  the  pony,  and  oh !  how  much 
Klondyke  and  I  wanted  to  go.  Sometimes  Klondyke  did 
follow,  and  sometimes  he  came  home  in  a  hurry,  too,  yelp- 
ing, and  glad  he  was  to  cuddle  down  to  me;  that  was  when 
his  master  had  used  the  whip  to  drive  him  back.  Don't 


6  MASTER   ST.  ELMO 

you  think  he  was  mean  to  us  ?  I  tried  to  be  very  good,  for 
I  was  frightened  after  the  first  and  only  whipping  that  I 
ever  received.  Klondyke  seemed  to  forget  how  the  whip 
felt,  for  he  got  lots  of  wallopings.  I  caught  on  from  the  first 
who  was  boss,  so  I  made  up  my  mind  to  be  good,  thinking 
to  myself  that  when  the  gate  was  left  open  by  mistake,  and 
my  master  out  of  sight,  I  would  run  away  and  go  back  to 
my  dear  mother.  I  think  little  boys  or  girls  who  had  been 
stolen  from  their  mama  would  run  home  as  soon  as  the 
chance  came  to  do  so.  How  should  you  like  to  be  stolen 
from  your  mother  ?  Well !  we  doggies  have  feelings,  too, 
and  our  poor  mothers  cry  for  us,  just  the  same  as  would 
yours. 


CHAPTER  II 

The  time  never  came  for  me  to  make  my  escape,  but  a 
way  opened  for  me  to  become  an  only  pet,  in  the  way  of  a 
visitor  to  the  family.  This  visitor  was  my  present  mistress, 
who  owns  me  (although  I  often  hear  her  tell  some  one  that 
I  own  her).  When  they  take  me  out  for  a  walk  I  hear  them 
tell  folks,  "St.  Elmo  does  not  follow  us,  but  we  follow  him." 
That  is  a  mean  thing  to  say,  for  a  dog  has  to  "rubber" 
around  a  little  to  enjoy  himself,  but  my  people  want  me  to 
be  a  real  dignified,  well-bred  canine,  and  walk  in  a  straight 
line.  Do  you  like  to  be  so  precise,  boys  ? 

I  thought  Topeka  and  that  little  back  yard  was  the  whole 
world  when  I  was  a  puppy  out  there,  and  that  Texas,  where 
I  was  born,  was  another  little  back  yard  joined  on  (just  as 
folks  say  in  Chicago,  that  St.  Louis  is  a  suburb  of  Chicago). 
Wasn't  that  a  joke,  to  think  all  of  this  big  world  was  just 
Topeka  ?  Every  one  makes  some  mistakes,  and  I  never  had 
studied  geography  nor  traveled,  so  I  want  you  to  pardon  me 
for  not  knowing  better.  Now  I  know  that  CHICAGO  is  all 
the  world,  and  that  all  any  one  need  know  is,  there  is  one 
great  world,  and  that  is  Chicago.  I  feel  very  proud  to  be  a 
citizen  of  this  wonderful  city  (don't  laugh,  boys,  I  pay  my 
taxes  each  year,  just  as  all  good  citizens  should  do) .  At  times 
it  is  a  little  uncomfortable  for  a  dog,  as  well  as  for  children, 
that  is  when  the  landlords  will  not  take  us  in  their  flats,  or 
hotels,  or  boarding-houses,  or  when  the  conductors  will  not 
let  us  ride  in  the  cars,  or  the  policemen  let  us  play  on  the 
grass  in  the  parks ;  then  it  is  we  have  a  hard  time  living,  and 
we  are  greatly  alike  in  our  need  of  sympathy.  Then  that 
bugbear  of  dogs,  the  "DOG-CATCHER"  (I  want  that  name  in 
the  biggest  type  the  printers  have), keeps  us  in  terror,  and  even 


MASTER   ST.  ELMO 

if  we  have  a  tag  on  and  are  loyal  citizens  these  cruel  men  will 
take  us  when  they  get  a  good  chance,  and  then  our  masters 
have  to  go  to  the  "Dog  Pound"  and  pay  five  dollars,  five 
great,  big,  silver  wheels,  to  get  us  out — lots  of  poor  unlucky 
dogs  are  not  taken  out;  then  the  men  kill  them  with  gas, 
which  is  said  just  to  put  them  to  sleep  and  not  hurt  them; 
and  if  this  is  so,  it  is  a  humane  way  to  do.  How  I  wish 
every  poor  dog,  horse,  and  in  fact,  every  animal,  could  be 
killed  in  that  way  instead  of  being  shot,  for  animals  do  not 
always  die  with  the  first  shot,  but  suffer.  I  hope  every  one 
will  try  not  to  make  us  animals  suffer,  for  we  are  dumb  and 
can't  tell  our  troubles  as  children  can,  and  we  are  not  respon- 
sible for  our  being  here.  While  I  am  on  this  subject,  let 
me  tell  you  where  there  is  a  good  home  for  stray  dogs  and 
cats.  That  home  is  on  N.  Clark  Street  near  Division  Street, 
and  is  under  the  supervision  of  the  ladies  and  children  of 
the  Anti-Cruelty  Society.  The  Humane  Society  does  lots  of 
good  also,  so  there  is  no  need  of  poor,  starving  animals  on 
our  streets  if  each  one  will  see  that  they  are  cared  for. 
Dogs  do  not  go  mad  from  kindness;  it  is  from  hardships 
and  abuse,  and  many  a  dog  is  killed  for  mad  when  he  is 
only  dazed  by  hunger  and  cold.  I  beg  of  you,  children,  to 
report  all  cases  of  cruelty  that  you  see,  and  feed  all  hungry 
dogs  and  cats,  birds,  and  all  other  helpless  animals  in  our  big 
cities.  There  is  a  nice  little  journal  published  in  Springfield, 
Ohio,  called  "Pets  and  Animals,"  which  does  a  great  deal  to 
help  the  cause.  It  is  only  fifty  cents  a  year,  and  well  worth 
the  price.  Well,  I  was  talking  about  flats  and  landlords  when 
I  switched  off  on  the  humane  subject,  which  is  my  mistress's 
hobby.  I  can't  say  that  I  exactly  blame  landlords  for  refus- 
ing to  have  cats  in  their  houses,  lor  they  are  really  so  musical 
of  nights  that  the  other  inhabitants  can't  sleep.  They  enjoy 
perching  on  their  neighbor's  back  fence  in  the  wee  hours  of  a 
moonlight  night  and  telling  their  love-songs  in  such  long 
drawn-out  vibratory  yowwwwwww-ouuuuuiiuiiuu's  that  even 


MASTER   ST.  ELMO  9 

a  dog  holds  his  ears  shut.  But  then  I  like  cats — most  dogs 
do  not.  I  would  play  with  a  cat  if  she  would  make  friends 
with  me,  but  she  always  sp —  -  at  me,  and  puts  up 

her  back  into  such  a  hump,  with  her  feathers  all  flying,  that 
I  get  disgusted,  and  wonder  if  she  knows  how  ugly  she  looks. 
That  is  the  way  I  heard  a  lady  say  that  her  little  boy  and 
girl  looked  when  they  were  cross  and  humped  up  their  rose- 
bud lips;  but,  of  course,  I  don't  think  any  of  my  little  readers 
do  this,  do  you  ?  I  like  to  see  cats  run  up  a  tree;  so,  some- 
times when  my  mistress  is  not  poking  around,  I  chase  them 
and  stand  under  the  tree  and  bark.  I  do  this  with  squirrels, 
too,  but  I  would  not  kill  them,  not  even  a  rat.  Why  should 
I  ?  I  don't  want  to  be  killed,  do  I  ? 


CHAPTER  III 

Now,  I  will  tell  you  how  I  happened  to  move  to  Chicago. 
While  I  was  in  Topeka  there  came  to  visit  at  our  house  a 
lady  and  a  gentleman.  One  day  while  walking  in  the  gar- 
den, the  lady  spied  me,  at  the  same  time  that  I  spied  her. 
Well!  it  was  "love  at  first  sight."  I  just  ran  to  her,  and 
she  took  me  right  up  in  her  arms  and  squeezed  me  so  hard 
that  I  felt  my  thin  ribs  squeak  (she  didn't  mean  to  hurt  me; 
was  just  loving  me),  and  I  was  overjoyed  at  being  petted. 
But  I  cannot  yet  forget  a  mean  thing  that  she  did  say  about 
me;  when  she  put  me  down  she  said,  "My !  but  he's  all  legs," 
and  she  also  said,  which  I  did  not  understand,  that  I  was 
"A  life  boat  on  sticks."  I  have  forgiven  her,  however,  as 
I  love  her  very  dearly  now.  After  that  my  life  changed,  and 
my  living,  too,  for  she  wanted  to  fatten  me  up  before  she 
took  me  home.  To  my  dismay,  one  day  I  heard  her  say, 
"We're  going  home  to-morrow,"  and  if  you  ever  saw  a  dog's 
iaw  drop  and  his  ears  droop  and  his  tail  fall  between  his 
legs,  you  have  seen  my  picture  at  that  minute.  What  was  I 
to  do  ?  Poor  me !  I  went  over  in  a  corner  and  wished  again 
for  my  dear  mother.  That  night  I  had  dreams  of  cruel 
men,  whips,  and  bones,  all  night.  I  ran  to  the  lady  (I  did  not 
know  her  name  then),  in  the  morning,  when  she  came  out 
in  the  garden,  with  my  ears  and  head  down  and  my  eyes  so 
bloodshot  from  crying  that  she  knew  in  a  minute  that  I  was 
unhappy.  She  read  my  thoughts  at  once,  for  she  said, 
"Should  you  like  to  go  home  with  me,  little  dog  ?"  (I  had 
no  name  as  yet.)  I  jumped  up  and  licked  her  hand,  and 
wagged  my  tail  so  hard  that  it  nearly  wagged  off — then  she 
knew  that  I  had  said  "Yes."  Turning  to  my  little  master 
James,  she  said,  "Well,  James,  I  will  give  you  three  dollars 

10 


MASTER   ST.  ELMO  11 

for  your  yellow  purp."  Was  not  that  complimentary  to  me  ? 
How  my  heart  thumped  against  my  thin  sides,  for  I  knew 
three  dollars  was  an  awful  big  lot  of  money.  My  little  master 
had  only  pennies  to  count  and  spend,  so  I  thought  it  was  a 
joke,  for  how  could  I  be  worth  three  big  silver  dollars  ?  I 
decided  that  my  days  would  be  spent  in  the  barn.  But  to 
my  surprise  the  lady  took  out  three  big  silver  wheels  and 
gave  them  to  my  little  master,  and  took  me  up  in  her  arms 
for  a  second  time  and  said,  "Well,  puppy,  you  belong  to 
me  now,  and  I  shall  name  you  'St.  Elmo.' '  You  bet,  I  was 
as  happy  as  the  boy  who  got  his  first  pair  of  boots  or  pants 
with  pockets  in.  I  could  not  thank  my  new  mistress  enough, 
and  I  will  tell  you  right  here  that  1  have  never  regretted 
being  sold  to  her.  I  did  have  a  sorry  feeling  in  my  throat 
when  I  said  "good-by"  to  Klondyke,  for  I  knew  he  would 
miss  me.  I  tried  to  tell  the  lady  to  buy  him,  too,  but  she 
did  not  understand  me  this  time  —  maybe  she  did  know, 
for  I  heard  her  say,  "One  dog  is  enough."  A  year  later  I 
heard  that  Klondyke  had  another  good  home,  and  that  he 
could  run  and  play  outside  the  yard,  so  he  was  happy. 
Poor  Rex,  the  pet  of  the  household,  ate  some  poisoned  meat 
in  an  alley  and  died.  He  was  a  lovely  fox-terrier,  and  the 
family  all  cried  when  he  died. 


CHAPTER  IV 

The  day  after  I  was  bought  for  three  dollars,  the  folks  went 
down  town  and  brought  back  a  bright  collar  and  chain  for 
me,  and  I  was  so  tickled.  That  afternoon  I  went  for  my  first 
walk,  and  when  we  got  to  the  corner  of  the  street  such  a 
big  thing  went  whizzing  by  that  my  eyes  almost  popped  out 
of  my  head.  I  was  scared  plumb  through.  When  it 
stopped,  the  next  thing  I  knew  I  was  in  this  big,  noisy 
monster,  and  was  jerked  from  one  side  to  the  other  until  I 
wished  I  had  not  left  my  little,  quiet  home.  Can  you  guess 
what  this  big  monster  was  ?  I  know,  since  I  am  educated. 
It  was  an  electric  street-car.  Soon  we  got  to  the  biggest 
house  I  had  ever  seen,  with  "DEPOT"  in  bright  letters  over 
the  door;  and  pretty  soon  another  monster,  this  time  an 
IRON  HORSE,  came  puffing  and  snorting  along,  and  stopped 
right  in  front  of  me.  My !  I  was  shaking  all  over.  Didn't 
you  get  frightened,  boys,  the  first  time  you  saw  red  sparks 
fly  up  in  the  air  and  hot  water  blow  out  of  the  sides  of  this 
monster;  and  whistles  and  bells  making  such  a  noise  that  you 
were  getting  deaf  ?  They  call  this  frightful  monster  a  loco- 
motive, big  folks  do.  I  thought  how  very  nice  it  would  be  to 
be  back  in  my  cozy  little  barn,  where  such  noises  never 
reached  us,  and  to  snuggle  down  to  Klondyke.  You  see,  one 
is  never  satisfied,  one  always  wants  something  different  from 
what  one  has — it  is  just  the  same  with  man  and  beast.  The 
worst  was  yet  to  come.  My  new  master  (he  also  seemed  to 
belong  to  my  mistress,  so  I  guess  she  bought  him  for  three 
dollars,  too)  took  me  into  a  big  barn  on  wheels,  where  trunks 
and  boxes  were  piled  up,  and  he  chained  me  to  a  hot-water 
coil  (that  is  what  the  man  said) — you  see  I  know  lots  now, 
for  I  live  in  Chicago,  where  every  one  knows  everything. 

12 


MASTER   ST.  ELMO  13 

To  my  surprise,  I  was  left  in  this  big  barn  on  wheels, 
with  a  strange  man,  who  patted  me  on  the  head,  and  said 
he  would  look  after  me.  He  gave  me  a  drink  of  water,  and 
was  very  kind,  so  I  made  up  my  mind  from  that  time  to  be 
good  to  everybody,  and  then  everybody  would  be  good  to 
me.  This  has  been  my  motto  ever  since,  so  this  world  is  one 
big  joke  to  me.  The  baggage-man  made  me  a  bed  on  some 
bags  filled  with  hard  papers,  and  once  more  I  thought  what  a 
nice,  soft  bed  Klondyke  was  snoozing  on,  the  soft  straw  in 
the  dear  old  barn.  I  spent  most  of  the  night  thinking  of 
my  old  home,  and  wondering  where  my  new  mistress  had 
gone,  as  I  could  not  see  her,  and  I  was  hurrying  along  some- 
where so  rapidly  that  it  almost  took  my  breath  away.  May- 
be, thought  I,  we  are  going  back  to  get  Klondyke.  I  hoped 
so,  for  that  same  big  lump  came  up  in  my  throat  and  almost 
choked  me,  when  I  thought  I  should  never  see  him  again. 
I  tried  to  console  myself  by  thinking  that  my  new  master 
was  somewhere  near,  asleep  on  another  hard  bed  like  mine, 
in  this  noisy  flying-machine;  so,  at  last,  from  fatigue  I  fell 
asleep.  All  of  a  sudden  a  big  whistle  blew.  How  my  heart 
jumped  up  into  my  mouth.  Then  the  man  packed  more 
trunks  up,  and  made  such  a  noise  that  I  thought  what  a  lucky 
dog  Klondyke  was.  I  was  the  one  now  that  wanted  to 
cuddle  down  to  him  and  tell  my  troubles.  I  did  not  howl, 
as  some  dogs  do,  as  I  felt  sure  the  man  wanted  to  be  good  to 
me,  but  did  not  know  how,  or  he  would  not  have  blown  the 
whistles.  I  got  my  reward  for  being  good  the  next  morn- 
ing, when,  to  my  joy,  my  mistress  appeared,  and  spoke  for 
the  second  time,  my  name,  "St.  Elmo."  "Come  to  me!" 
she  said.  Well!  walking  was  too  slow;  I  just  jumped  and 
leaped  to  reach  her,  and  I  told  her  in  as  plain  words  as  a 
dog  can,  how  glad  I  was  to  see  her  and  to  be  out  again  in  the 
fresh  air  with  my  deliverer. 

We  stopped  a  day  and  a  night  in  Lawrence,  where  the 
people  met  us  at  the  depot  with  a  carriage.  I  had  never 


14  MASTER   ST.  ELMO 

seen  one  of  these  trotting-machines,  but  I  knew  that  when 
anything  stopped  in  front  of  me  now,  I  must  get  into  it,  so  I 
was  the  first  one  in,  not  knowing  how  rude  it  was  to  be  the 
first  and  leave  the  ladies  to  get  in  last.  I  am  more  polite 
now.  I  had  been  shoved  into  everything  in  front  of  me  ever 
since  I  began  traveling,  so,  of  course,  I  got  in,  and  took  the 
whole  seat,  spreading  out  as  much  as  possible  for  my  com- 
fort. How  the  folks  laughed.  My  master,  however,  made 
me  sit  on  the  floor,  and  how  I  had  to  strain  my  long  neck  to 
see  out  of  the  window,  for  I  did  not  want  to  miss  anything. 

We  visited  some  pleasant  friends  in  Lawrence,  who  gave 
me  lots  to  eat,  and  let  me  play  with  their  big  dog,  Punch. 
He  was  a  brown  water-spaniel,  such  a  kind,  smart  dog.  My 
mistress  liked  him  very  much,  and  so  did  I.  My  experience 
there  is  something  I  can  never  forget.  It  was  planned  for  me 
to  sleep  that  night  in  the  basement  with  Punch,  so  the  lady 
took  me  by  the  chain  and  started  down  a  flight  of  stairs.  I 
pulled  back,  for  my!  I  was  so  scared  when  I  looked  down, 
because  I  had  never  seen  a  pair  of  stairs,  and  did  not  know 
how  to  get  down.  Did  you,  when  you  were  three  months  old  ? 
I  just  stood  still,  and  she  nearly  pulled  my  head  off;  still  I 
held  on,  braced  against  the  banister  and  the  first  landing. 
But  soon  my  mistress  thought  of  a  way  to  help  me,  so  she  got 
in  front  and  put  first  my  right  foot  and  then  my  left  foot  on 
the  next  step,  and  so  on  until  I  was  down. 

Is  it  not  a  funny  feeling  to  go  head-first  down  to  nowhere  ? 
I  believe  even  boys  would  be  afraid  to  go  downstairs  head 
first.  That  night  I  had  some  good  milk  for  supper,  and  a 
soft  bed  to  sleep  upon,  and  Punch  for  company,  so  I  de- 
cided that  I  was  progressing  rapidly  in  the  upper  classes  of 
society.  What  a  relief  it  was  not  to  hear  those  horrid  noises. 
I  slept  so  soundly  that  night  that  my  mistress  had  to  call  me 
three  times  in  the  morning  before  I  could  get  my  eyes  open. 
Then  I  had  another  lesson  in  stepology.  This  time  the  lady 
pulled  again,  and  my  mistress  pushed  from  behind,  causing 


MASTER   ST.  ELMO  15 

me  to  knock  my  thin  knees  against  the  sharp  edges  of  the 
steps,  and  to  fall  all  the  way  up.  Sometimes  I  was  on  my 
knees,  and  part  of  the  time  on  my  feet,  but  they  kept  on 
pulling  until  I  was  once  more  at  the  top,  dizzy,  but  thankful 
that  the  lesson  was  over.  You  see,  I  have  always  had  a 
school  in  my  own  house,  with  just  one  pupil  (and  that  pupil 
poor  me),  but  three  teachers;  so  I  think  I  have  had  a  harder 
time  than  if  my  school  had  fifty  pupils,  for  I  am  watched 
every  minute,  and  so  much  more  is  expected  of  me.  After 
that  experience  I  decided  that  if  there  were  any  more  steps  to 
climb,  Master  St.  Elmo  would  climb  them  by  himself,  ask- 
ing no  assistance. 


CHAPTER  V 

I  told  you  in  chapter  four  how  I  got  home  after  this  little 
visit  in  Lawrence,  which  is  near  Topeka,  so  I  will  continue 
my  story  from  my  arrival  at  the  depot  in  Chicago,  after  that 
long  ride  on  the  "choo-choo"  cars  (that  is  what  a  little  boy 
called  them).  We  reached  Chicago  in  the  day-time,  so  1 
had  a  chance  to  see  what  a  clean,  smokeless,  quiet,  easy- 
going, unpretentious,  exclusive,  and  wonderful  city  Chicago 
was;  and  indeed  it  is  wonderful,  if  it  is  not  entitled  to  all 
the  adjectives  stated  above,  but  I  never  will  go  back  on  my 
home  now,  and  I  will  lick  any  dog  that  will  say  a  word  about 
our  great  Chicago.  I  heard  a  big  man  say  one  day  that  the 
United  States  was  in  Chicago,  so  I  know  now  all  about  it. 

From  the  depot  in  Chicago  on  my  way  to  my  mistress's 
house,  we  had  to  ride  on  another  of  those  barns  on  wheels, 
but  when  I  started  to  get  on,  a  big  man  of  great  importance, 
with  brass  buttons  on  his  coat,  said,  "Dogs  can't  ride, 
madam,  on  these  cars";  and  my  poor  mistress  felt  so  sorry, 
she  said  to  him,  "Oh,  but  my  dog  can,  for  I  will  pay  his 
fare,  and  keep  him  on  the  platform."  So  at  last  he  con- 
sented, and  we  had  to  stand  up  for  about  two  miles.  I  did 
not  care  for  myself,  but  I  felt  sorry  for  my  mistress.  The 
man  said  she  could  go  in,  but  my  mistress  said  she  would 
not  go  where  her  dog  could  not  go.  But  to  think  that  I  had 
cost  a  great  big  five  cents  again !  I  surely  was  becoming 
quite  an  expensive  luxury. 

We  arrived  at  last  at  what  was  to  be  my  future  home, 
and  I  knew,  by  this  time,  that  I  had  won  the  heart  of  the 
strange  lady,  and  that  I  was  to  be  hers  always.  I  was  puzzled 
once  more  in  this  house,  for  I  had  lived  only  on  one  floor 
before,  and  here  was  a  house  above  with  folks  living  in  it, 

16 


MASTER   ST.  ELMO  17 

and  before  I  could  get  my  senses  together  to  figure  out  this 
problem,  I  heard  my  mistress  from  above  call,  "Come  up 
to  me,  St.  Elmo !"  I  was  way  down  somewhere  alone, 
and  she  was  way  up  nowhere,  as  I  supposed,  so  with  one 
bound  I  started  up  those  high,  slippery  (I  did  not  know  they 
were  like  that  then),  ungrateful  steps,  forgetting  my  first 
lesson  in  step-climbing,  but  finding  another  lesson  they  had 
not  taught  me,  the  way  to  fall  down  stairs,  so  I  rolled  back 
to  the  last  step,  for  I  could  not  get  hold  of  the  waxy  steps. 
I  was  not  hurt,  but  my  feelings  were  most  cruelly  injured. 
I  pretended,  however,  that  I  was  abused  and  hurt,  so  in  a 
few  minutes  (it  seemed  an  hour),  the  lady  came  to  me,  who  I 
know  now  by  the  name  of  mama,  and  she  said,  "Poor,  little, 
long-legged  dog,  are  you  hurt  ?"  I  put  my  head  on  her  lap, 
and  felt  that  I  had  found  a  real  mother.  She  helped  me 
up  those  horrid  stairs,  and  said  that  she  was  sorry  for  me, 
that  she  herself  did  not  like  slippery  stairs ;  that  she  believed 
in  carpets,  more  for  comfort,  and  not  for  style.  She  also 
consoled  me  by  telling  me  that  she  fell  down  those  steps  once, 
and  hurt  her  arm,  and  that  she  was  more  than  four  months 
old.  From  that  time  I  knew  whom  to  go  to  when  I  was  in 
trouble.  That  night  was  the  first  experience  I  ever  had  in  a 
house.  I  slept  on  the  floor  in  the  hall  by  my  master's  door, 
upon  the  softest  bed  I  had  ever  known.  Before  I  made  that 
desperate  plunge  upstairs,  I  had  noticed  a  comfortable  couch 
in  a  room,  and  I  thought  to  myself,  that  is  my  bed,  for  I  shall 
at  once  begin  to  usurp  what  I  wish.  At  the  first  peep  of  day 
I  got  up  and  shook  myself  and  walked  to  the  top  of  the  stair- 
way and  looked  down.  Everything  was  so  shiny.  The 
steps  looked  like  glass,  so  I  hesitated.  What  if  my  mistress 
should  look  out  of  her  door  and  catch  me !  Then  I  thought, 
I  can  surely  get  down  without  assistance,  so  I  put  one  trem- 
bling foot  down,  just  on  the  first  step,  when — somebody 
pulled  a  string  and  those  stairs  seemed  to  close  up,  and  the 
next  thing  I  knew  I  landed  in  a  heap  on  the  first  landing  be- 


18  MASTER  ST.  ELMO 

low,  with  such  a  bang  that  I  woke  the  entire  household,  each 
one  running  to  the  head  of  the  stairs  and  looking  over  the 
banisters  at  poor  me.  By  that  time  I  had  collected  my  re- 
maining thoughts  together,  so  I  could  pose  in  a  most  de- 
jected style,  with  my  head  down,  my  long  tail  between  my 
legs,  my  ears  drooped,  and  forming,  as  the  people  said,  a 
sad  and  forlorn  living  picture.  Oh!  how  I  wished  I  had 
never  spied  that  enticing  couch ;  that  soft  bed  upstairs  on  the 
floor  was  good  enough  for  me  right  then.  My  mistress  ran 
down,  and,  to  my  surprise,  instead  of  whipping  me  as  I  had 
expected  and  deserved,  she  sat  down  and  took  me  in  her  lap, 
and  patted  my  poor,  dazed  head.  My  wounds  healed  rap- 
idly, and  I  went  back  to  bed,  with  her  assistance,  and  never 
tried  that  again  (while  little).  For  some  time  after  that 
awful  downfall  to  my  pride,  I  always  turned  my  head  side- 
wise  when  I  passed  that  couch,  so  as  not  to  see  the  horrid 
thing,  for  it  made  a  dizzy  feeling  come  over  me.  The  bed  at 
my  master's  door  served  for  several  months,  until  one  night 
I  discovered  a  door  open  and  a  room  unoccupied.  In  the 
mean  time  I  had  noticed  that  all  the  family  had  high  beds 
to  sleep  upon,  with  white  coverlets,  and  I  often  rested  my 
nose  on  them  and  knew  they  were  nice  and  soft.  I  won- 
dered if  they  were  good  enough  for  the  family,  why  they 
wouldn't  be  just  the  thing  for  me,  and  save  them  making  an 
extra  bed  up  for  me  on  the  floor.  So,  one  morning  I  quietly 
got  up  on  that  unoccupied  bed,  and  found  solid  comfort  at 
last — that  is,  for  a  dog.  What  a  dandy  sleep  I  was  enjoying, 
when  my  master  discovered  me,  and  with  one  flat-handed, 
evenly  balanced  spank,  I  landed  in  a  hurry  on  the  floor. 
Did  you  ever  get  one  like  that,  boys  ? 

Oh,  dear !  what  a  sad  fate,  but  what  a  soft  bed.  I  found 
out  later  that  this  was  my  mistress's  best  guest-chamber, 
all  dressed  up  in  lace  and  stuff  (that  is  not  necessary  for  soft- 
ness or  sleep).  It  did  seem  that  I  was  possessed  to  do  every- 
thing that  a  dog  should  not  do,  but  I  always  have  watched 


MASTER   ST.  ELMO  19 

out  for  soft  snaps,  and  I  usually  get  them,  for  people  every- 
where are  so  good  to  me.  Of  course,  my  own  family  have  to 
discipline  me  a  little.  I  often  wonder  if  my  little  readers 
ever  need  any  such  lessons.  When  I  grew  larger  and 
stronger,  I  tried  another  scheme,  for  I  was  always  looking 
for  comfort,  and  this  time  it  worked.  As  the  first  blush  of 
the  rosy  dawn  peeped  through  the  hall  window,  I  crept 
noiselessly  down  those  same  steps  (not  so  slippery,  for  my 
sharp  nails  had  worn  them  off  so  I  could  get  a  grip  now), 
into  the  library,  and  there  I  would  spend  the  rest  of  the 
morning  upon  that  couch  which  I  had  so  dreaded  in  my 
early  childhood,  but  which  now  is  "dreamland"  for  me. 
I  used  to  do  this  every  morning,  and  for  a  time  I  was  scolded, 
but  I  persevered,  and  at  last  I  conquered,  and  this  finally 
became  my  own  bed ;  and  now  when  we  all  go  away  for  the 
summer,  my  bed  is  shipped  with  us.  Soon  after,  they  moved 
it  up  into  the  front  bedchamber,  and  bought  a  new  leather 
couch  for  the  library.  I  sleep  in  the  family  bedroom  always, 
and  no  one  ever  thinks  of  usurping  my  throne.  One  eve- 
ning I  found  my  mistress  resting  on  the  couch,  so  I  ran  to  the 
closet  door  where  my  whip  hung,  and  took  the  whip  to 
my  master,  and  he  got  right  up  and  whipped  my  mistress  off, 
just  as  they  used  to  do  with  me.  How  glad  I  was  that  she 
was  bad,  too.  I  never  get  any  hard  whippings,  but  I  pre- 
tend they  hurt,  and  I  yelp.  Our  people  do  not  believe  in 
whipping  children  or  animals;  they  think  it  demoralizes 
them.  My  mistress  stops  all  the  cruel  men  that  she  sees 
whipping  horses,  or  abusing  any  animal,  and  reports  them 
to  the  Humane  Society,  and  she  hopes  all  people  and  children 
will  do  likewise,  for  she  loves  children  and  animals  best  of 
anything  in  the  world.  I  know,  because  she  said  so. 


CHAPTER  VI 

The  family  had  a  nice  back  yard  full  of  beautiful  flowers 
when  they  brought  me  home,  and  I  was  delighted  to  play  in 
that  yard  for  several  weeks.  I  had  no  companions  as  yet,  and 
as  I  was  left  out  there  all  day  I  made  friends  with  the  flowers. 
I  amused  myself  by  getting  acquainted  with  the  vines,  the 
flowers,  and  the  grass.  I  dug  tunnels  in  the  velvety  lawn  as 
large  as  my  body,  and  I  would  get  right  down  into  them  and 
be  almost  out  of  sight.  Oh,  what  fun,  boys !  Once  I  had 
seven  good-sized  tunnels  all  in  working  order;  that  was  my 
busy  day,  and  when  my  master  discovered  them,  it  became 
his  busy  day,  for  he  used  his  hands  freely  upon  my  poor 
body.  He  seemed  to  object  to  my  spending  so  much  time 
in  improving  his  back  yard,  and  he  tried  to  reason  with  me; 
but  I  was  a  little  thickheaded,  and  did  not  comprehend. 
Later  on  however,  he  understood  me,  and  I  mastered  him, 
and  preserved  the  lovely  back  yard  for  my  own  use  all  that 
fall.  Until  the  next  spring  my  master's  dainty  yard,  the 
pride  of  his  heart,  became  a  wonderful  yard  of  subways. 
What  surprised  me  the  most  was,  that  after  I  had  romped 
around  for  a  day  or  so,  the  grass  disappeared  as  by  magic, 
and  not  a  blade  of  grass  could  be  seen.  You  know  how  you 
feel  when  you  are  very  happy.  Well,  that  was  the  way  I  felt 
as  soon  as  I  reached  our  lovely  back  yard.  That  December, 
when  the  flowers  had  died  (the  ones  I  had  left  by  neglect), 
I  felt  a  curious  desire  to  see  where  they  came  from,  so  I  dug 
way  down  into  the  ground  and  pulled  up  bulbs  and  roots, 
and  spaded  the  garden  up  in  fine  shape.  At  this  time  my 
master  decided  to  turn  over  the  garden  to  me,  so  he  quit. 
The  one  mean  thing  that  I  did  do,  and  that  I  was  ashamed 
of  when  I  grew  older,  was,  after  I  had  cleared  the  yard  of 

20 


MASTER   ST.  ELMO 


21 


bushes,  bulbs,  sticks  growing  up  straight,  and  other  unde- 
sirable things,  I  discovered  that  I  had  left  a  vine  clinging  to 
the  side  of  the  barn ;  and  as  I  was  doing  a  regular  weeding-out 


ADMIRING  OUR  LOVELY  BACK  YARD 


business,  I  ran  up  to  it  and  put  my  strong  teeth  around  the 
tender  stems,  and  then  I  ran  as  far  out  as  I  could,  pulling  it 
all  down  and  breaking  it  off  at  the  roots.  I  did  get  a  re- 
minder for  that  piece  of  work  in  the  shape  of  one,  two,  three, 
four,  the  four  being  much  harder  than  the  rest.  I  was  glad 
then  I  had  learned  to  count  only  up  to  four,  or  they  might 


MASTER   ST.  ELMO 

have  continued.     You  know  what  I  mean;  I  can  see  you 
laugh  at  my  expense. 

The  next  spring  when  another  vine  was  planted  in  the 
same  place  I  looked  at  it  with  my  eyes  shut,  when  I  had 
occasion  to  pass  it;  and  as  to  the  flowers  and  plants,  I  was 
willing  to  turn  them  and  the  entire  garden  over  to  the  right- 
ful owner. 

As  to  the  holes  in  the  yard,  I  refused  to  dig  any  more, 
and  I  guess  my  master  would  have  liked  me  to  dig  some 
for  he  used  to  take  a  spade  and  dig,  dig,  dig;  but  I  never 
offered  to  help  him.  The  grass  failed  to  grow  after  that  in 
our  back  yard,  but  the  faithful  flowers  came  back  to  please 
my  master. 

When  I  had  to  give  up  this  source  of  pleasure,  I  got  into 
all  sorts  of  mischief.  I  enjoyed  playing  jokes  on  our  cook, 
Miss  Ellen,  who  really  did  love  me.  One  day  I  had  her 
scared;  she  thought  that  "Taffy"  had  been  in  her  kitchen 
and  had  stolen  a  loaf  of  bread,  for  when  she  was  in  the  other 
room,  I  had  quietly  taken  her  loaf  of  bread  and  was  playing 
ball  out  in  that  very  same  back  yard.  That  nice  white 
bread  I  had  soon  molded  into  brown  bread,  in  a  much  shorter 
time  than  it  took  her  to  make  it  white.  My!  but  she 
was  mad,  and  the  family  did  without  bread  for  dinner  that 
day.  I  think  now  that  that  back  yard  sort  of  inspired  me, 
for  I  did  all  kinds  of  mischievous  things  as  soon  as  I  made 
its  acquaintance.  Another  day  Ellen  had  set  the  table,  and 
by  this  time  I  had  grown  tall  enough  to  rest  my  nose  on  the 
table  and  see  what  the  family  were  going  to  have  for  dinner. 
Upon  this  particular  day  I  saw  a  shiny  silver  ball  resting 
on  a  little  silver  stand,  and  I  thought  it  would  be  such  a  giddy 
plaything,  so  I  put  my  front  feet  up  into  the  seat  of  the  chair 
and  helped  myself.  Do  you  think  it  is  wrong  to  want  things 
that  you  see  ?  I  spent  a  jolly  five  minutes  tossing  it  up 
and  catching  it  in  my  mouth,  but  soon  I  had  my  mouth 
full  of  tea.  Just  think !  tea  in  my  mouth.  This  I  was  told 


MASTER    ST.  ELMO  23 

afterwards  was  my  mistress's  pet  tea-ball.  Well,  you  should 
have  seen  the  ball.  It  was  a  flat  ball  when  I  had  finished 
with  it,  and  it  had  to  go  to  the  doctor's  and  get  fixed  up 
again;  and  now,  when  you  put  on  your  **  specks,"  you  can 
find  a  wee  hole  where  my  tooth  accidentally  tunneled.  Of 
course  our  guests  do  not  know  that  I  chewed  it  all  up,  so 
they  enjoy  the  tea  just  the  same. 


CHAPTER  VII 

I  was  very  green  when  I  first  came  to  live  on  Calumet 
Avenue,  and  there  was  a  little  fox-terrier  named  Fritz,  that 
thought  he  knew  everything.  He  would  not  associate  with 
the  other  dogs  on  the  block,  and  was  really  very  much 
"stuck  up,"  so  I  could  not  but  feel  a  little  green  when  he 
showed  so  plainly  his  Chicago  education  to  me.  I  was  "hail 
fellow,  well  met"  sort  of  chap,  so  up  I  ran  to  him  the  first 
time  that  I  saw  him;  when,  to  my  surprise,  he  made  such  a 
funny,  bass  sound  from  somewhere  in  his  make-up,  at  the 
same  time  showing  me  his  pearly,  well-kept  teeth,  that  I  ran 
home  for  fear  he  might  do  as  that  big  IRON  HORSE  did,— 
send  forth  sparks  and  smoke. 

I  wondered  for  many  days  whether  that  was  the  proper 
introduction  for  a  society  dog  and  a  country  dog.  I  had 
much  to  learn.  After  I  had  lived  on  his  street  for  a  month, 
and  he  had  seen  other  fashionable  dogs  play  with  me,  and 
people  pet  me  (especially  his  master),  he  thought  I  was  worth 
knowing.  Then  he  tried  to  make  up  and  get  some  of 
the  attention;  so  he  came  waltzing  up  to  me;  but  I  stood 
firm,  and  said  to  him  in  as  deep  a  bass  voice  as  I  could, 
"Boo!"  and  showed  my  big  teeth;  then  I  walked  away  with 
such  dignity  as  only  a  well-bred  animal  can  show,  and  he  ran 
home  to  his  "ma,"  and  she  shamed  him  and  said,  "That  is 
what  you  deserved,  Fritz,  for  being  so  discourteous  to  a  new, 
unacquainted  neighbor."  I  did  not  want  to  fight,  although 
I  knew  I  could  whip  lots  of  dogs,  as  I  was  so  big  and  strong; 
but  I  also  knew  that  it  was  not  refined  to  quarrel  or  fight, 
for  my  master  said  so,  and  he  never  had  a  fight.  After  that, 
Fritz  and  I  "never  spoke  as  we  passed  by,"  although  each 
Christmas  we  exchange  presents.  He  sent  me  a  stuffed  cat 

24 


MASTER    ST.  ELMO 


25 


last  year  with  this  tender  greeting,  "A  merry  Christmas, 
from  your  dear  friend  Fritz."  I  will  say  here  that  he  is  a 
very  smart  dog  and  very  pretty,  as  you  can  see  by  the  picture, 
and  I  have  no  hard  feelings  toward  him  now  that  we  live 
fifteen  miles  apart,  and  I  should  like  to  have  him  come 
out  and  visit  me,  where  dogs  can  breathe  the  air  of  freedom 
in  good,  peaceful  Riverside.  I  must  tell  you  of  one  present 
that  Fritz  sent  me.  It  was  a  little  white,  curly-haired  dog 
on  rollers.  I  had  never  played 
with  such  dainty  toys,  so  I  just 
handled  it  as  1  did  my  bones. 
Pretty  soon,  while  I  was  having 
so  much  fun  tossing  him  up  and 
romping  hard,  what  did  that 
naughty  dog  do  but  drop  out 
two  eyes,  let  fall  his  bell,  tied 
with  a  pretty  pink  ribbon,  and 
sprinkle  his  sawdust  insides  all 
over  the  parlor  carpet.  My! 
what  should  I  do  now  ?  So  I 
sat  down  with  my  poor  dog  be- 
tween my  paws,  and  wondered 

how  I  could  get  his  insides  in  again  and  put  in  his 
eyes.  While  I  was  fussing  with  him,  what  did  the  un- 
grateful fellow  do  but  drop  his  ear  in  front  of  my  paw; 
that  made  me  cross,  and  I  went  to  work  at  once  to  get 
at  the  foundation  of  his  anatomy,  and  so  I  pulled  off 
each  roller,  took  off  his  other  ear,  grabbed  him  by  the  tail 
and  threw  him  across  the  room,  when,  horrors !  his  tail  stayed 
in  my  mouth,  but  the  dog  had  landed  on  my  mistress's  best 
bric-a-brac,  and  -  -  BANG!  I  heard  something  go.  Poor 
me !  Had  Santa  Glaus  been  good  to  St.  Elmo  ?  No !  I 
wished  I  had  not  been  presented  with  a  Christmas  gift,  and 
especially  a  puzzle-put-me-together  dog,  for  I  could  see  no 
way  to  put  him  back  as  he  was.  I  tried  to  look  innocent 


FRITZ 


26  MASTER   ST.  ELMO 

when  my  master  came  in,  but  somehow  my  folks  can  always 
tell  just  by  my  looks  when  I  have  been  in  mischief;  so  he 
asked  me  what  kind  of  battle  had  been  going  on  here,  then 
he  picked  up  the  poor  doggie's  eyes  (which  were  two  black 
shoe-buttons);  then  he  found  the  ears,  the  tail  came  next, 
but  where  was  the  dog  ?  No  one  could  find  the  dog.  I 
really  hoped  he  had  run  back  to  Santa  Glaus  to  get  re- 
paired, but  no  such  good  luck.  My  mistress  appeared,  her 
sharp  black  eyes  spied  her  broken  treasure,  and  also  poor, 
disabled  doggie,  that  could  not  get  away,  and  that  broke  the 
unnecessary  article,  which  really  was  in  the  way,  anyhow. 
I  was  talked  to  and  reasoned  with,  but  not  whipped,  as  I 
heard  them  say  that  it  was  too  cunning  in  him  to  whip  him. 
I  had  a  little  trouble,  though,  getting  the  fuzz  out  of  my 
mouth  and  teeth,  for  the  dog  was  so  covered  with  wool  that 
I  could  not  avoid  getting  some  off. 

I  wonder  if  it  hurt  him,  as  it  does  me  when  they  pull 
my  tail  ?  His  nose  didn't  come  off,  so  I  think  it  was  tacked 
on.  My  nose  was  full  of  sawdust  and  fuzz  after  the  tussle, 
and  I  sneezed  and  sneezed  and  sneezed.  If  I  am  made  of 
sawdust  like  that  puzzle  dog,  I  hope  another  bad  dog  will 
some  time  get  his  fill  of  sawdust,  as  I  did. 

The  Sunday-school  teaches  us  to  forgive  and  forget;  so 
I  have  forgiven  Fritz,  but  I  still  have  a  lingering  nightmare 
of  his  Christmas  gift  to  me  of  an  ungrateful  woolly-dog. 


CHAPTER  VIII 


One  day  during  that  winter,  I  went  for  a  walk  with  my 
mistress  on  Thirty-first  Street,  and  while  passing  along,  I 
saw,  to  my  terror,  a  big  In- 
dian standing  right  on  the 
sidewalk  a  few  feet  from 
us,  leaning  against  the  front 
door  of  a  store.  My!  I 
made  one  leap  into  the 
street,  and  I  thought  he  was 
after  me.  He  was  all 
dressed  up  in  leather,  and 
blue,  and  red,  and  all  colors, 
and  had  feathers  on  his 
head.  I  thought  that  if  he 
killed  poor  birds  to  get  his 
hat,  that  he  might  want  me 
to  make  some  tan  leggings 
out  of,  for  he  held  in  his 
hand  a  bright  glistening 
tomahawk.  I  thought 
surely  he  would  kill  my 
mistress,  'cause  she  stood 
right  under  him,  calling  to 
me.  I  wondered  why  she 
did  not  run.  Maybe  she 
was  so  frightened  she  could 
not  run,  so  I  decided  to 
protect  her,  regardless  of 
my  own  safety.  I  ran  up  a 
little  nearer  and  gave  one  c 


THE  WOODEN  INDIAN 


27 


MASTER   ST.  ELMO 

of  my  biggest  bass-barks,  but  he  did  not  move  an  inch; 
so  I  repeated  it  several  times,  each  time  more  loudly  and 
more  emphatically,  but  still  he  gazed  down  upon  us  with 
that  frightful  hatchet  ready  to  kill  us.  I  did  not  know 
what  to  do  next,  but  my  mistress  seemed  so  composed 
that  I  really  thought  she  did  not  know  a  desperate  red 
man  from  my  master,  for  she  was  not  one  bit  more 
frightened  than  when  he  is  around.  My  senses  came  back 
with  a  shock  when  my  mistress  said  in  a  loud  voice,  so 
that  all  the  other  dogs  could  hear,  "What  a  goose  you  are, 
St.  Elmo ;  that  Indian  is  only  a  stick  of  wood ;  he  is  a  wooden 
man,  a  cigar  sign,  put  there  to  show  naughty  men  and  very* 
naughty  boys  where  they  can  buy  tobacco,  which  under- 
mines their  health  and  makes  their  breath  and  clothes  ob- 
noxious." I  was  very  much  chagrined.  Now  I  look  twice 
at  a  man  to  make  sure  he  is  not  wooden,  before  I  bark  and  give 
any  one  a  chance  to  call  me  names.  What  is  a  goose,  boys  ? 
I  always  thought  I  was  a  dog. 


CHAPTER  IX 


Hurrah  for  the  Fourth  of  July !  Hurrah !  Hurrah !  Hur- 
rah !  When  Fourth  of  July  came  that  year  I  was  told  that 
it  was  my  birthday,  that  1 
was  one  year  old,  and  that 
I  was  to  begin  school-days 
from  that  time ;  so  my  mis- 
tress said  that  I  should  bark 
once  when  people  said  "How 
old  are  you,  little  dog  ?"  and 
that  when  people  said,  "How 
do  you  do  ?"  for  me  to  hold 
up  my  right  paw  and  shake 
hands;  something  I  never 
forget  to  do  now,  when  peo- 
ple are  polite  to  me.  My 
mistress  also  read  to  me  a 
poem  which  she  wrote  for 
the  school  children,  and  they 
spoke  it  on  Mr.  George 
Washington's  birthday  an- 
niversary, February  22, 1898, 
and  the  paper  printed  it,  so 
I  guess  it  is  all  right.  I  will 
repeat  it  to  you,  with  your 
kind  permission  (that  is 
what  big  folks  say,  when 
they  want  to  read  something 

that  they  wrote  and  that  they  think  is  good,  but  kind  of 
want  to  apologize  for  reading).  As  Fourth  of  July  is  Mr. 
George  Washington's  day  also,  I  think  it  is  quite  appropri- 

29 


HAROLD  AND  I  CELEBRATING  THE 
GLORIOUS  FOURTH  OF  JULY 


30  MASTER   ST.  ELMO 

ate  to  print  it  here,  don't  you  ?  My  mistress  gave  me  quite 
a  talk  upon  patriotism,  and  explained  all  about  the  glorious 
Fourth  of  July. 

THE   STARS   AND   STRIPES   SHOULD   WAVE 

[By  the  courtesy  of  the  "  Chicago  Daily  Tribune."] 

Some  hundred  years  and  twenty, 

In  the  old  colonial  days, 
A  deed  was  done  by  one  to  save, 

Who  won  our  country's  praise. 
He  was  father,  friend,  and  brother, 

He  was  gallant,  true,  and  brave; 
And  it  is  for  him — George  Washington — 

The  Stars  and  Stripes  should  wave. 

There  were  many  willing  followers, 

Who  laid  down  plow  and  spade 
To  join  their  brave  commander 

In  the  cause  to  "Die  or  save." 
They  fought  the  fight  which  now  to-day 

Glad  shouts  of  freedom  ring, 
And  it  is  for  these,  our  nation's  brave, 

The  Stars  and  Stripes  should  wave. 

We  must  not  forget  the  later  years 

That  brought  us  freedom,  too, 
And  those  who  bore  the  same  old  flag 

With  Stars  and  Stripes  anew; 
They  were  also  gallant  soldiers, 

Noble  boys  in  faded  blue, 
And  it  is  for  these,  our  nation's  brave, 

The  Stars  and  Stripes  should  wave. 

With  Stars  and  Stripes  suspended, 

Telling  each  their  story  old 
Of  the  deeds  of  gallant  soldiers, 

Our  loyal  boys  so  bold, 


MASTER   ST.  ELMO  31 

We  will  ever  praise  and  honor 

Those  who  fell;  yes,  but  to  save, 
In  the  cause  which  makes  us  bow  our  head 

When  we  see  "OLD  GLORY"  wave. 

My  mistress  says  that  Fourth  of  July  is  not  wholly  in- 
tended for  play  and  noise,  but  that  it  is  a  day  for  thankful- 
ness, for  had  it  not  been  for  the  "Father  of  our  Country," 
General  George  Washington,  and  his  gallant  soldiers,  we 
might  yet  have  been  ruled  by  the  little  strip  of  land  across 
the  sea,  not  larger  than  one  of  our  states.  You  all  know 
that  the  Declaration  of  Independence  insures  us  the  bless- 
ings of  liberty,  and  that  the  "Star  Spangled  Banner"  waves 
over  every  man,  woman,  and  child  in  our  beloved  country, 
protecting,  and  making  us  all  better  under  its  floating  colors. 
One  of  these  beautiful  flags  hangs  in  our  house  always,  and 
whenever  my  mistress  goes  away  she  takes  a  small  silk  flag 
with  her,  which  was  made  for  her,  and  hangs  it  in  her 
room  wherever  she  stays.  I  wish  every  child  would  hang 
a  flag  in  the  house  that  he  lives  in,  for  there  is  no 
picture  so  grand,  no  statue  so  imposing,  no  decoration 
so  harmonious,  as  our  honored  and  beloved  flag  with 
the  red,  white,  and  blue — the  red  stripes  as  emblems 
of  our  strength,  the  white  for  purity  and  love,  the  blue 
the  emblem  of  our  trust  and  truth,  and  the  stars  the 
emblem  of  protection,  watching  over  us  all,  as  the  little  stars 
in  the  blue  of  the  heaven  watch  o'er  us  each  night.  God's 
flag  is  the  blue  of  the  heaven  striped  with  the  red  of  the  sun- 
sets, and  His  stars  are  the  little  bright  eyes  of  His  angels. 
His  mighty  flag  forever  and  forever  waves  o'er  us,  and  we 

O          v  O 

feel  sure  of  His  protection ;  therefore,  with  such  an  emblem  of 
loyalty  above  us,  we  must  feel  the  same  protection  on  our 
land  with  ' '  Old  Glory ' '  waving  over  us. 


CHAPTER  X 

On  this  most  remarkable  morning,  my  first  birthday,  we 
hung  out  our  flags  the  first  thing.  After  a  while  there  began 
the  loudest  noises  that  I  had  ever  heard  (I  thought  that 
the  big  IRON  HORSC  was  after  me  again).  Most  dogs,  they 
tell  me,  run  and  hide  when  the  Fourth  of  July  comes  around, 
but  I  was  delighted  as  soon  as  I  understood  it  was  all  play 
noise.  I  wanted  to  go  right  up  to  the  big  fire-crackers  and 
see  where  the  noise  came  from,  but  my  master  explained 
them  to  me,  and  said  that  should  I  go  up  to  one  and  it  was 
lighted,  it  would  blow  my  head  off;  so,  boys,  you  must 
be  careful  and  not  be  too  curious.  I  spent  all  the  day 
watching  and  playing  with  the  children ;  the  louder  the  noise 
the  better  I  enjoyed  myself.  I  could  not  eat  my  breakfast, 
dinner,  or  supper- — I  had  to  stay  right  writh  the  fun.  The 
girls  on  our  block  had  little  round  torpedoes  to  slam  down 
on  the  sidewalk,  but  of  course  that  was  tame  for  the  boys 
and  me,  so  we  fired  off  crackers.  That  night  I  was  so  tickled 
that  I  could  not  eat  my  supper;  I  was  afraid  I  should  miss 
something.  I  sat  with  my  family  on  the  front  porch,  watch- 
ing the  beautiful  colored  lights,  and  listening  to  the  guns. 
The  funny  things  that  interested  me  most  were  the  bal- 
loons soaring  up  into  the  air  and  the  long-tailed  fire-serpents 
sailing  so  gracefully  against  the  blue  sky,  their  little  sparks 
matching  the  stars  peeking  through  the  heaven  and  drop- 
ping down  in  thousands,  making  even  the  stars  wonder  what 
these  miniature  starlets  were  which  were  adding  so  much 
beauty  to  their  own  far-away  candled  canopy  of  blue.  I 
wonder  what  made  them  go  so  high  and  after  a  second  dis- 
appear, just  as  though  they  had  not  been  there  at  all.  My ! 
how  things  do  puzzle  me.  I  wonder  if  other  little  people 

32 


MASTER   ST.  ELMO  33 

know  the  reason  for  such  mysterious  freaks  of  nature.  I  no 
sooner  got  through  watching  one  big  fiery  snake  shoot  up 
than  a  red  or  blue  of  green  light  would  dazzle  my  eyes ;  then 
a  boom !  boom !  boom !  and  then  another  serpent,  so  my 
neck  was  almost  stretched  out  of  repairable  shape.  Still  I 
had  the  best  time  of  my  life,  and  thought  it  the  funniest  day  I 
had  ever  seen,  and  congratulated  myself  on  having  been  born 
on  the  glorious  Fourth  of  July,  so  every  one  could  enjoy  him- 
self celebrating  my  birthday. 


CHAPTER  XI 

Soon  after  this  I  noticed  that  the  trunks  were  being  packed, 
so  I  knew  something  extra  was  going  on.  I  stayed  as  close 
to  them  and  to  my  mistress's  heels  as  I  could.  I,  of  course, 
wanted  to  go  also.  We  did  go  in  August  to  a  place 
called  Minocqua,  and  this  was  my  first  summer  outing.  I 
know  now  that  it  is  very  stylish  and  swell  to  leave  home  in  the 
summer,  and  quite  the  proper  thing  for  fashionable  dogs  to  be 
taken  to  summer  resorts.  As  this  was  my  first  experience,  I 
made  many  blunders  and  acted  like  a  real  country  dog.  The 
first  thing  I  did  when  we  landed  at  Minocqua  was  to  make  a 
bee-line  for  the  first  house  that  I  saw,  which  happened  to  be 
a  villa,  and  up  I  went  and  all  through  the  house  without  in- 
troducing myself.  After  startling  the  whole  family,  I  went 
into  the  next  cottage  and  saw  all  that  they  had,  arousing  the 
children  and  causing  great  commotion,  for  I  always  rushed 
then  instead  of  walking  quietly.  I  was  so  excited  that  my 
people  could  not  get  me,  for  as  soon  as  they  visited  one  place, 
I  had  finished  with  that  and  was  investigating  another.  I 
heard  a  little  boy  say  to  his  mama,  "There  is  a  little  fawn 
out  on  our  lawn,  come  and  see!"  I  soon  realized  what  it 
meant  to  be  called,  or  at  least  taken  for,  a  fawn  or  a  deer 
up  in  the  wilds  of  Wisconsin;  so  I  obeyed  after  my  first 
lecture  on  hunters  of  deer,  and  Indians  shooting  deer,  and 
stayed  at  home  except  when  my  folks  took  me  into  the  woods 
with  them.  You  see,  I  am  the  color  of  the  deer  in  the  sum- 
mer time,  and  at  a  distance  I  could  be  shot  for  one  if  I  were 
seen  alone  in  the  dense  forests  and  brush.  My  mistress  says 
that  there  is  a  fine  exhibit  of  deer  in  the  Field  Columbian 
Museum  in  Jackson  Park,  in  Chicago,  showing  them  in 
all  their  different  changes  of  coat  and  in  each  season.  These 

34 


MASTER    ST.  ELMO 


35 


are  of  course  dead  deer,  mounted,  but  they  are  perfect,  and 
all  children  should  see  them  if  possible.  The  live  deer  are 
at  Lincoln  Park  Zoo.  This  first  day  at  Minocqua  I  had  a 
scrap.  There  was  another  pet  dog  that  was  boss  of  all  this 
place;  her  name  was  "Peggy,"  commonly  called  "Peg"; 
she  was  a  brown  water-spaniel  and  very  much  spoiled.  She 
looked  sidewise  at  me  with  a  wild  gaze,  and  I  saw  trouble 
brewing.  As  I  was  to 
be  there  three  weeks, 
I  decided  to  settle  this 
little  matter  about  pos- 
session at  an  early  date, 
as  soon  as  she  wanted 
me  to  do  so,  and  as 
politely  as  I  could,  see- 
ing she  was  supposed 
to  be  a  lady.  I  went 
down  to  the  lake  show- 
ing my  independence 
and  importance,  and 
on  the  way  back,  I  saw 
an  old  torn  straw  hat, 
such  as  the  best  fisher- 
men wear  to  catch  fish ; 

as  it  was  not  owned  by  any  one  apparently,  and  as  I  was 
rather  bored  at  not  having  anything  to  do,  I  picked  it  up, 
and  began  to  shake  it,  running  up  and  down,  passing 
the  house  where  she  lived,  and  enjoying  myself  immense- 
ly; when  suddenly  from  around  the  corner  of  the  house 
popped  Miss  Peggy;  she  took  hold  of  one  side  of  the  brim, 
and  I  held  to  the  other,  she  growling  and  saying,  "You 
let  go  of  this  hat;  it  belongs  to  me."  I  said  in  reply,  very 
politely,  "Miss  Peggy,  I  found  this  hat  and  it  is  mine,  kindly 
let  go. ' '  She  still  held  on  and  pulled,  when  r-r-rip  went  the 
hat,  but  still  we  each  held  fast.  Rip,  rip  went  the  old  hat; 


LIVE  DEER  AT  LINCOLN  PARK  Zoo,  CHICAGO 


36  MASTER   ST.  ELMO 

still  we  pulled,  but  this  time  the  fair  damsel  parted  from 
the  hat  with  only  a  tiny  bit  of  it  in  her  dainty  mouth  as  a 
souvenir.  I  dropped  the  hat  and  put  my  big  foot  down 
upon  it  with  a  firm  hold,  and  looking  at  her  with  a  most 
decided  expression,  I  said,  "I  got  this  first."  She  under- 
stood, and  after  that  we  became  great  chums.  She  took  me 
around  the  place,  and  even  shared  some  bones  with  me.  It 
is  sometimes  necessary  to  show  the  fair  sex  that  we,  the  strong 
and  heroic,  have  our  rights  also. 

These  people  at  "The  Villa"  had  another  pet,  a  most 
comical  kind  of  a  screeching  pet.  I  guess  she  named  her- 
self, for  she  kept  calling  most  of  the  time, '  *  Poor  Lauretta. ' ' 
She  never  seemed  to  me  to  be  poor,  for  her  cage  was  filled 
each  day  with  fresh  food  and  water.  People  called  her  a 
parrot.  She  was  indeed  very  beautiful  to  look  upon,  her 
color  being  green  with  red  on  her  head;  she  was  all  right  if 
she  had  not  wanted  the  first  and  the  last  word  always;  but 
she  talked  when  no  one  was  around,  and  when  they  came, 
she  would  keep  on  talking,  and  really  I  got  awfully  tired  of 
hearing  her  say  ' '  Poor  Lauretta, "  Polly  wants  a  cracker, ' ' 
when  she  was  full  of  crackers.  I  never  got  very  close  to  her 
cage  as  I  was  afraid  she  would  snap  at  me,  for  she  used  to 
hump  up  her  back  and  look  just  as  cats  do — and  I  have  had 
my  experience  with  cats — so  I  kept  as  far  away  from  Lauretta 
as  possible.  How  she  used  to  fool  us,  that  is  "Peg"  and 
me.  We  never  did  learn  the  difference  between  her  voice 
and  "Peg's"  little  master  "Juny, "  for  each  one  used  to 
call  "Here  Peg,  here  Peg,"  and  of  course  we  both  ran  to 
the  little  master,  when  lots  of  times  it  was  that  naughty  bird 
calling  "Here  Peg";  then  she  would  laugh  at  us  for  being 
fooled.  Even  the  big  people  could  not  tell  which  one  was 
calling,  as  "Lauretta"  really  could  mimic  "Juny"  to  per- 
fection. She  had  a  fine  soprano  voice,  and  could  sing  in 
perfect  tune  and  in  plain  words  "Pretty,  pretty  Polly  Hop- 
kins, how  do  you  do  ?  How  do  you  do  ?"  If  you  children 


MASTER   ST.  ELMO  37 

want  to  hear  the  tune,  ask  some  dear  old  grandmother,  and 
she  no  doubt  can  sing  it  for  you.  There  was  something 
strange  about '  *  Lauretta"  that  made  me  afraid  of  her.  She 
was  too  human,  I  guess,  for  I  was  not  afraid  of  toads,  frogs, 
snakes,  bugs,  chickens,  or  anything  else,  but  she  was  a 
puzzle  to  me. 

The  country  around  Minocqua  is  beautiful,  and  such  a 
picturesque  lake !  It  has  an  awfully  big  Indian  name,  and 
you  can  find  it  on  your  maps  marked  Kewagasaga;  it  means, 
in  Indian  language,  *  *  little  tomahawk. ' ' 

After  we  had  been  here  a  few  days,  my  master  went  out 
in  a  skiff  on  the  lake,  and  he  called  to  me.  I  went  to  the 
shore  of  the  lake,  but  was  afraid  to  follow  him,  for  I  had  never 
been  in  a  large  body  of  water,  nothing  larger  than  the  family 
bath-tub  (and  I  never  liked  that).  I  don't  like  t  >  be 
washed  and  have  soap-suds  rubbed  into  my  eyes  and  ears, 
do  you  ?  Well !  I  just  balked,  so  my  master  had  to  come 
after  me,  and  to  my  delight  he  let  me  jump  into  his  boat. 
Away  we  glided  out,  like  a  swan  on  the  smooth  waters,  and 
I  thought  I  had  reached  the  height  of  my  ambition,  to  see 
the  world  without  footing  it  around.  Misery!  All  I  re- 
member now  is  that  I  was  pushed  by  some  one  (I  have  my 
opinion  as  to  that  some  one),  headlong  overboard  into  the 
biggest  bath-tub  that  I  had  ever  been  in.  I  could  not 
touch  the  sides  of  it,  so  I  thought  I  should  die  with 
fright.  I  splashed  and  I  sputtered  with  my  mouth  filled 
with  water,  but  at  last  I  heard  my  mistress  call  from  the 
shore,  so  I  made  one  last  attempt  to  reach  her.  I  started  to 
walk  the  same  as  I  do  on  the  land,  but  it  would  not  do.  Once 
more  I  heard  encouraging  words  from  the  shore,  this  time 
from  my  mama,  ' '  Come  to  me,  St.  Elmo,  swim,  don't 
walk."  In  a  moment  I  was  swimming  through  the 
water  in  the  easiest  fashion,  and  finally  I  reached  the  shore, 
very  wet,  but  very  happy.  My  first  swimming  lesson  was  a 
sudden  one  but  never  to  be  forgotten,  and  now  I  dearly  love 


460004 


38  MASTER    ST.  ELMO 

to  swim  after  the  boat,  and  lots  of  times  I  am  not  wanted, 
then  I  laugh  to  myself,  and  think,  I  guess  you  are  sorry  you 
taught  me  to  swim.  If  you  boys  have  ever  had  such  an  ex- 
perience in  swimming,  you  will  know  how  I  felt,  but  if  you 
never  have  been  so  treated,  don't  try  it  just  because  I  told 
you. 

After  that  I  saw  "Peg"  and  lots  of  the  people  go  into 
the  lake,  even  my  mistress;  so  I  soon  enjoyed  it,  and  would 
go  way  out  after  my  inflated  rubber  ball.  Later  on  my 
family  had  a  hard  time  keeping  me  out  of  the  water.  I 
used  to  run  up  to  them  and  shake  myself  so  that  the  water 
would  sprinkle  all  over  and  would  rub  my  wet  coat  against 
them.  Of  course  some  did  not  enjoy  the  joke,  especially 
when  they  were  all  togged  up,  but  it  was  great  fun  for  me.  I 
pretended  I  did  not  know  any  better,  so  they  would  laugh 
and  forgive  me. 


CHAPTER  XII 

The  next  object  of  my  anxiety  and  suspicion  was  in  the 
shape  of  a  big  red  man,  called  an  Indian.  This  time  he 
was  a  real  live  Indian  and  did  not  carry  a  tomahawk;  he 
always  carried  a  bucket.  When  he  came  to  the  village,  it 
was  rilled  with  berries,  but  when  he  left  for  home,  it  was  full 
of  ' '  fire-water. ' '  He  had  a  big  reddish  brown  face  and 
little  black,  bead  eyes.  He  said  his  name  was  "Jack"; 
of  course  that  was  his  English  name.  He  lived  eighteen 
miles  from  the  village  on  a  reservation  called  "Flambo"; 
that  is  also  on  your  map,  and  if  you  do  not  know  about  a 
reservation,  read  it  up,  for  a  dog  must  not  know  more  than 
a  boy  or  a  girl. 

These  Indians  are  of  the  "Chippewa"  tribe,  and  they 
are  partially  civilized.  Most  of  them  live  in  wooden  houses, 
still  there  are  some  old-fashioned  Indians  who  hold  to  the 
wigwam  and  tepee.  They  do  some  work,  at  least  the  squaws 
(their  comely  wives  do  the  work,  and  they  spend  the  money). 
This  big  Indian  Jack  had  a  little  boy  pappoose  who  was 
carried  on  his  mama's  back  when  he  came  to  the  village;  he 
was  about  my  age.  One  day  my  mistress  held  out  to  him 
a  lovely  pink  carnation  (my  mistress's  favorite  flower) ;  this 
was  in  her  left  hand,  in  the  right  hand  she  held  a  nickel. 
The  pappoose  grasped  the  bright  flower  in  his  little  fat 
brown  hand,  choosing  the  one  he  liked  best,  but  papa  Indian 
immediately  took  it  from  pappoose  boy  and  gave  it  back 
to  my  mistress  and  made  the  little  chap  take  the  money. 
His  papa  had  an  eye  to  business  just  the  same  as  the  white 
papas  have,  and  he  was  giving  his  son  his  first  lesson  in 
making  money.  The  baby,  however,  went  away  with  the 
flower,  for  my  mistress  loved  the  baby  for  loving  the  beauti- 

39 


40  MASTER   ST.  ELMO 

ful  flower  the  best.  The  baby  did  not  cry,  and  the  Indian 
said,  in  reply  to  a  question,  *  Injun  babies  no  cry. ' '  The 
squaws  make  bead-work,  baskets,  mats,  blankets,  and  belts, 
and  many  lovely  things.  I  never  got  hold  of  any  of  these 
things  to  play  with,  although  I  often  wished  that  I  could 
have  one  of  their  bright  blankets  or  mats  to  shake.  You 
boys  know  how  we  dogs  like  to  get  things  to  shake  and  tear 
up. 

I  must  tell  you  about  a  tiny  pappoose  whom  my  mistress 
saw  at  "Flambo. "  She  was  just  three  days  old  and  as 
fair  as  any  white  child  is  at  that  age.  She  had  a  little  white 
bonnet  on,  and  was  tied  on  a  board,  which  was  suspended 
from  the  top  of  the  wigwam  by  ropes.  She  was  tied  there  in 
the  morning  and  not  taken  out  until  night;  she  never  cried; 
you  know  "Jack"  said  "Injun  babies  no  cry."  The  papa 
Indian  said  the  pappoose  was  "no  good,"  because  it  was 
a  little  girl.  He  wanted  boys  so  as  to  make  warriors  of 
them.  This  and  the  thoughts  of  such  a  happy  baby  life, 
free  from  care,  amused  my  mistress  so  much,  that  she  wrote 
a  song,  the  words  of  which  I  am  going  to  give  you  here. 


ROCK-A-BYE,   LITTLE   PAPPOOSE   LADY 

(Words  to  a  Chippewa  Pappoose) 

Rock-a-fo/e,  Little  Pappoose  Lady ! 
Daddy  Injun's  gone  away,  gone  a-daydy; 

Went  to  hunt  a  red  deer  skin 

Just  to  dress  his  baby  in — 
Rock-a-6?/e,  Little  Pappoose  Lady ! 

Do  you  cry,  Little  Pappoose  Lady, 
When  you're  hung  up  on  a  tree  in  the  shady — 
And  the  Injuns,  they  all  go, 
And  you're  tied  from  head  to  toe — 
Do  you  cry,  Little  Pappoose  Lady  ? 


MASTER   ST.  ELMO  41 

Where's  your  doll,  Little  Pappoose  Lady  ? 
Oh,  I  see !  on  a  bough  for  its  cradly, 
'Tis  a  stick  dressed  up,  that's  all, 

With  a  blanket  for  a  shawl — 
But  you're  happy  Little  Pappoose  Lady ! 

Rock-a-6?/e,  Little  Pappoose  Lady ! 

Soon  you'll  journey  with  your  tribe,  far,  to  trady, 

In  your  carriage,  on  squaw's  back, 

You're  the  happiest  little  black 
In  your  freedom,  Little  Pappoose  Lady ! 

Look-a-here,  Little  Pappoose  Lady ! 

Would  you  change  and  be  a  white  girl  baby  ? 

Washed  and  dressed  five  times  a  day, 

Dressed  in  frills  and  ribbons  gay — 
Would  you  change,  Little  Pappoose  Lady  ? 

For  those  who  do  not  understand  baby-talk,  "daydy"  is  "gone  away" ; 
"shady"  is  "shade";  "cradly"  is  cradle";  and  "trady"  means  "trade." 

(Copyrighted,  1904,  Caro  Smith-Senour.) 

We  next  stopped  at  a  place  called  "Eagle  Lake,"  because 
it  is  in  the  shape  of  an  eagle  with  its  wings  spread.  There  was 
a  farm  here  where  I  liked  to  roam  about  for  they  had  such 
funny  animals.  There  was  a  big  rooster  who  raised  nine 
little  turkeys;  their  mother  had  died,  so  master  rooster 
adopted  the  orphans,  and  after  a  time  they  grew  so  large 
that  when  they  perched  upon  the  fence,  four  on  one  side  and 
five  on  the  other  side  of  father  rooster,  he  looked  so  small 
that  you  hardly  noticed  him  at  all.  We  left  this  lake  and 
went  to  Racine  and  there  we  got  into  a  big  boat;  in  my 
earlier  days  I  should  have  called  this  big  sea-bird  a  barn  on 
the  water,  for  you  know  all  places  were  barns  to  me.  I  was 
taken  down  into  the  basement  of  this  big  boat  and  chained 
to  a  chair  (just  think,  boys,  of  chaining  a  big  strong  dog  to  a 
chair) ;  this  place  was  what  they  call  the  baggageman's 


42  MASTER   ST.  ELMO 

room.  Well,  this  man  after  a  little  went  out,  and  I  had  had 
my  eye  on  his  bed,  so  as  soon  as  the  door  closed  after  him  I 
got  up,  pulled  chain  and  chair,  and  got  into  his  lower  berth. 
This  was  another  soft  bed,  so  I  fell  asleep.  I  guess  my 
snoring  out  my  contentment  made  the  man  return,  for  soon 
I  heard  him  crawling  into  the  upper  berth ;  so  we  both  slept 
the  rest  of  the  journey.  When  my  mistress  came  to  get  me 
at  the  end  of  our  trip,  she  was  surprised  at  my  audacity  and 
to  see  me  in  the  better  berth  and  the  man  way  up  on  the  top 
bed.  She  said,  "Do  you  know  my  dog  is  in  your  bed?" 
'  Yes,  madam,  and  if  your  dog  is  smart  enough  to  pick  out 
the  softer  bed,  I  think  he  is  entitled  to  it."  I  guess  I  was 
born  a  lucky  dog. 


CHAPTER  XIII 

Nothing  happened  to  narrate  until  Christmas  that  year. 
I  should  rather  leave  this  out,  but  my  story  would  be  incom- 
plete. We  had  spent  a  very  pleasant  day,  had  received 
many  lovely  gifts,  and  had  had  plenty  of  good  things  to  eat. 
That  always  pleases  me  the  most  for  I  like  good  eating, 
especially  ice-cream  and  candy,  and  some  kinds  of  cake. 
Oh,  yes !  I  forgot !  I  like  English  walnuts  about  the  best. 
After  tea  I  was  left  alone  for  the  evening,  the  family  being 
invited  to  a  Christmas-tree  party.  Why  I  was  not  invited 
I  never  could  understand,  as  I  played  with  the  children  who 
had  the  party,  and  they  appeared  to  love  me  very  much.  I 
was  really  very  sad  at  heart;  why  do  you  suppose  they  did 
not  invite  me  ?  Do  you  ever  get  left  out  of  parties  ?  Well ! 
it  got  rather  monotonous  after  ten  o'clock,  so  I  looked  all 
around  the  floors  and  tables  for  something  to  play  with.  I 
wanted  to  be  amused,  but  I  could  find  nothing  to  interest 
me.  After  a  little  while  I  spied  a  paper  box  upon  the  library 
desk,  which  looked  as  if  it  were  lonely,  too.  It  was  so  near 
the  edge  of  the  desk  that  I  expected  it  would  fall  off  any- 
way, so  I  just  put  my  front  feet  up  in  the  chair  and  pulled 
off  this  nice  little  alluring  box.  I  was  doubly  pleased  when 
I  threw  it  up  and  it  came  down  in  two  pieces,  for  I  then  had 
two  boxes.  What  fun  for  a  dog !  I  was  glad  I  had  stayed 
at  home ;  so  I  threw  one  of  the  two  boxes  up  again  and  once 
more  I  had  an  extra  box,  this  time  three.  The  third  box  I 
found  had  something  in,  so  up  I  sent  it,  higher  than  any  of 
the  others;  when  to  my  joy,  a  fourth  box  dropped  at  my  feet. 
Was  I  a  magician?  thought  I,  for  I  had  seen  my  little  play- 
mate do  such  wonderful  tricks.  Yes !  I  was  more  won- 
derful than  he,  for  I  had  materialized  a  most  beautiful 

43 


44  MASTER   ST.  ELMO 

picture,  such  as  you  see  on  the  next  page  entitled  "Little 
Boy  Blue."  It  was  a  piece  of  glass,  with  this  picture 
painted  on  it  in  pretty  colors.  I  found  out  later  that  it  was 
a  lantern  slide,  and  that  it  cost  my  master  $1.50  and  many 
days  of  waiting  to  get  it  home.  It  was  so  bright  and  pretty 
that  I,  of  course,  made  a  jump  for  it,  and  my  clumsy  paw 
landed  right  in  the  center  and  crushed  the  little  glass  all  to 
pieces.  I  was  so  sorry,  but  how  was  I  to  know  it  was  not  to 
play  with  ?  So  I  started  to  pick  up  the  pieces,  but  owwww ! 
I  cried,  for  they  stuck  in  my  mouth  and  a  piece  stuck  in  the 
side  of  my  gums  and  I  could  not  get  it  out.  I  lay  down  on 
the  floor  and  my  play  was  all  over  for  that  day.  I  knew 
that  when  my  master  returned  and  saw  the  damage  I  had 
done  another  place  would  sting.  When  they  came  home,  I 
did  not  run  to  meet  them  as  I  was  in  the  habit  of  doing,  so 
they  knew  something  was  wrong — I  always  betray  myself 
somehow.  Presently  my  master  discovered  the  havoc 
I  had  caused,  and  I  got  my  little  reminder  as  I  had  expected. 
I  never  am  disappointed  that  way,  are  you  ?  My  master 
said,  "You  bad  dog,  you  have  destroyed  a  $1.50  lantern 
slide. ' '  Just  to  think  I  was  suffering  all  the  time  with  that 
glass  in  my  jaw,  but  no  one  seemed  to  care.  After  they  had 
picked  up  the  four  boxes,  which  I  had  made  out  of  one,  and 
all  the  glass,  my  mistress,  who  is  always  sorry  when  I  am  in 
trouble,  came  and  asked  me  what  made  me  wiggle  my 
mouth,  and  she  put  her  finger  inside  and  pulled  out  a  piece 
of  glass  a  half-inch  long,  then  she  washed  my  mouth  and 
said  that  I  had  been  punished  enough.  After  this  I  always 
waited  for  the  folks  to  open  their  own  packages.  I  was 
only  one  year  and  five  months  old  when  this  happened,  and 
I  did  not  know  any  better.  Were  you  ever  left  alone  when 
you  were  as  little  as  I  was  at  that  time  ?  I  am  sure  you 
think  that  I  should  have  been  forgiven. 

My  best  friends  are   children.     They  can  pull  my  tail, 
or  ears,  or  poke  their  fingers  in  my  eyes,  and  it  is  all  fun  to 


LITTLK  BOY   BLUK 


MASTER    ST.  ELMO  47 

me  whatever  children  do.  I  was  very  good  after  this  mis- 
take of  mine  until  we  went  to  Channel  Lake  in  May.  It 
seems  as  if  I  am  always  possessed  when  I  go  away  until 
I  get  a  dressing  down.  What  makes  dogs  so  full  of  mis- 
chief ?  I  was  very  happy  when  we  got  to  Channel  Lake,  for 
there  was  another  big  bath-tub,  plenty  of  ground  room,  and 
lots  of  horses,  cows,  chickens,  and  pigs  to  bark  at.  I  like 
to  tease  pigs,  they  grunt  and  make  such  ugly  faces  that  it 
makes  me  laugh.  The  cows  with  the  big  horns  I  was  afraid 
of,  so  I  stayed  behind  the  fence  and  barked  at  them.  I  am 
like  a  little  boy  of  six,  whose  name  is  Paul,  who  said  that 
he  was  only  afraid  of  * '  loose  cows. ' '  Wasn't  that  cunning  ? 

There  was  the  "Bog"  to  get  into,  and  that  was  great 
sport.  I  spent  many  happy  moments  in  the  bog,  hunting 
for  frogs  and  scaring  them  out  of  their  homes  and  jumping 
after  them.  I  would  not  hurt  them,  only  I  enjoy  the  sport 
of  hunting.  I  got  their  little  hop,  skip,  and  jump  down  pat 
before  I  left  for  my  quiet  home  in  the  city.  I  had  many 
scoldings  for  haunting  this  most  fascinating  place,  for  I  al- 
ways went  home  with  muddy  feet,  and  sometimes  with  mud 
up  to  my  neck.  I  first  became  acquainted  with  this  bog  by 
watching  my  master  over  there  looking  for  something,  and 
he  would  come  back  with  a  bucket  full  of  frogs,  catching 
them  in  a  net  and  using  them  for  baiting  his  hook  to  catch 
another  poor  creature,  the  fish.  Poor  little  froggies  !  /  never 
hurt  them.  I  was  curious  to  find  out  where  my  master  got 
the  frogs,  so  after  he  returned  I  strolled  over  to  the  same 
place,  and  it  soon  became  my  favorite  amusement.  I  won- 
dered when  my  master  came  home  with  his  feet  muddy  that 
my  mistress  did  not  scold  him.  She  saw  only  my  mud,  so  I 
got  the  lectures  for  the  two.  I  think  she  was  partial  to  him 
sometimes. 

I  must  tell  you  about  "Duce."  He  was  a  little  puppy, 
white  with  two  black  spots  on  his  side,  so  this  is  why  they 
called  him  "Duce,"  that  means  two.  After  my  mistress 


48  MASTER   ST.  ELMO 

saw  him,  he  was  her  dog,  as  all  dogs  are.  She  seems  to  have 
their  love  after  a  first  meeting,  so  she  renamed  him  "Two 
Spots,"  which  name  every  one  soon  called  him,  and  he 
seemed  to  like  a  two-syllable  name  better.  He  was  a  foot 
long  and  about  a  foot  wide,  and  so  fat  he  could  hardly  walk. 
He  would  start  away  on  a  run,  but  before  long  you  would  see 
him  rolling  the  rest  of  the  way.  .  It  did  not  seem  to  matter 
whether  he  toddled  on  his  feet,  back,  or  fat  sides;  he  always 
got  to  the  place  he  started  for  just  as  well  as  I  did  with  my 
long  legs.  He  had  a  pet  name,  ' '  Butter-ball. ' '  His  re- 
lationship was  through  a  little  girl  whose  papa  owned  the 
hotel  where  we  were  boarding.  She  was  a  darling  little 
fair-haired  girl,  named  ''Marie."  She  was  my  dearest 
friend  out  there  and  my  constant  playfellow.  We  used  to 
play  until  we  were  all  tired  out,  then  1  would  lie  down  under 
the  shade-trees,  and  she  would  lie  down  with  her  head  on 
my  shoulder,  making  a  pillow  of  me.  This  little  girl  was 
four  years  old.  She  was  chubby  like  "Two  Spots,"  and 
her  eyes  were  blue.  I  used  to  love  to  have  her  dear  little 
chubby  hands  pat  my  head.  One  day  I  saw  a  horse  in  a 
pasture,  seemingly  alone,  and  not  having  any  fun,  so  I 
started  after  him,  and  when  he  saw  me  he  "took  to  his 
heels,"  so  off  I  went  after  him.  We  were  having  such  fun 
when  the  family  (there  were  so  many  in  my  family,  three, 
that  some  one  was  always  in  the  way,  watching  me)  spied 
me,  and  I  was  called  to  account  for  chasing  a  horse.  My 
mistress  gave  me  a  hard  spank  with  her  hand,  and  I  pre- 
tended that  I  was  hurt  so  as  to  get  sympathy,  which  I  did  get, 
for  Marie  had  seen  the  abuse  and  had  come  to  me,  putting  her 
chubby  arms  around  my  neck  and  telling  me  not  to  cry. 
My  feelings  were  always  hurt  more  than  the  hurt  itself. 
'Two  Spots"  slept  under  the  porch  steps  by  our  rooms, 
and  he  barked  at  every  one  passing,  with  the  exception  of  our 
family,  who  could  run  down  the  steps  all  hours  of  the  night, 
and  he  would  come  out  to  see  them,  but  never  bark,  he  knew 


MASTER    ST.  ELMO  49 

their  footsteps.  He  really  thought  that  we  belonged  to  him. 
The  family  to  whom  he  belonged  he  barked  at  when  they 
came  down  our  steps  at  night.  He  seemed  to  think  that  he 
was  really  protecting  us,  and  he  wasn't  much  larger  than 
my  head,  either.  In  the  daytime  he  would  watch  under  my 
mistress's  hammock  and  not  allow  any  one  to  go  near  her 
wihle  she  slept.  He  seemed  to  think  he  was  her  protector. 
It  made  me  a  little  jealous,  for  he  was  small,  and  he  often  got 
into  the  hammock  and  slept  with  my  mistress,  while  "poor 
me"  had  to  lie  on  the  ground.  That  is  what  one  gets  for 
growing  so  fast.  I  liked  sleeping  in  the  house  better,  any- 
way, for  I  had  a  soft  bed,  and  the  flies  and  ants  did  not 
bother  me  there.  I  really  felt  sorry  for  "Two  Spots"  once. 
The  boy  at  the  hotel  went  out  to  the  end  of  the  pier  and 
threw  him  into  the  water.  My !  I  thought  he  was  gone  for- 
ever, because  I  did  not  see  him  come  up,  so  I  rushed  in  after 
him,  and  just  as  his  head  popped  out,  I  grabbed  him  by  the 
nape  of  the  neck  and  dragged  him  safely  ashore.  Wouldn't 
you  have  been  scared  plumb  through,  boys  ?  After  that  he 
would  run  to  the  edge  of  the  water  and  back  again,  until  one 
day  he  swam  out  with  me;  then  after  that  he  was  a  fine 
swimmer.  I  was  always  ready  to  rescue  dogs  or  people,  and 
one  day  I  heard  my  master  scream  when  he  was  in  the  lake, 
so  I  ran  out  on  the  pier,  jumped  off,  and  swam  to  him,  took 
hold  of  his  arm  and  brought  him  to  shore.  I  heard  them 
say  afterwards  that  he  was  just  trying  me  to  see  what  I  would 
do,  but  it  is  not  right  to  fool  any  one  about  needing  help  when 
in  the  water. 

One  time  out  there  I  gave  my  mama  a  great  fright.  She 
was  sitting  on  the  bank  reading,  and  supposedly  watching 
St.  Elmo,  while  my  master  and  mistress  went  across  the  lake 
in  a  boat.  When  I  spied  them  crossing  to  Catherine  Lake, 
I  looked  at  "Mom"  (that  is  my  master's  pet  name  for  his 
mother-in-law),  and  she  was  asleep,  so  I  just  quietly  ran 
away  and  jumped  into  the  lake  and  swam  to  the  boat,  so 


50  MASTER   ST.  ELMO 

they  had  to  take  me  in.  Every  one  on  the  place  was  looking 
for  me,  and  they  all  thought  I  had  been  kidnapped.  Another 
day  I  was  lost,  so  to  speak,  and  all  on  the  place  started  out 
on  a  search  of  me.  One  boy  went  to  the  village  thinking  I 
had  followed  the  bus;  others  went  to  the  farms  around;  and 
even  the  good  landlord  was  searching  for  me.  Where  do 
you  think  I  was  that  time  ?  Playing  baby  upstairs  in  the 
hotel,  lying  on  a  nice  white  quilt  upon  a  soft  bed,  and  two 
little  girls  feeding  me  sugar  and  water  out  of  a  real  silver 
spoon.  I  was  their  sick  baby  and  this  petting  was  good 
enough  for  me. 

I  wonder  if  your  mama  would  not  enjoy  this  joke  on  my 
mistress  ?  I  shall  tell  it,  however,  and  may  be  she  will  feel 
sorry  for  our  poor  family.  Well,  this  happened  at  the  same 
place.  After  I  had  been  taken  into  the  boat,  we  soon  landed 
near  a  farm-house  and  after  securely  tying  our  boat,  to  a  little 
twig,  we  walked  to  the  house  and  introduced  ourselves  to  the 
good  farm-house  lady,  who  was  as  glad  to  see  us  as  if  we  had 
been  her  sixth-cousins.  We  told  her  that  wre  desired  to 
take  some  nice  crab-apples  home  with  us  so  as  to  make  jelly. 
She  told  us  to  help  ourselves.  I  took  only  one  and  ran  off 
with  it,  and  had  a  ball  game  all  alone.  After  my  family  had 
picked  up  two  sacks  full  of  beautiful  crab-apples  and  were 
tired  after  such  an  exertion  upon  a  warm  day,  we  prepared 
to  return,  my  master  having  insisted  upon  the  farm-house 
lady's  little  farm-house  daughter  accepting  fifty  cents.  You 
know  the  good  farmers  do  not  like  to  take  money  from 
tourists  for  anything  they  want,  as  the  visits  seem  to  give 
them  so  much  pleasure,  for  they  lead  such  a  lonely  life.  We 
pulled  for  the  hotel  and  got  there  a  little  late  for  luncheon, 
so  we  had  to  take  what  we  could  get.  My  master  then  got 
one  of  our  trunks  out  and  put  the  two  bags  of  crab- 
apples  into  the  bottom  of  the  trunk.  That  was  all  right,  but 
that  mistress  of  ours  always  has  her  own  plans  and  ideas, 
which,  to  keep  peace  in  our  family,  we  are  obliged  to  respect. 


MASTER   ST.  ELMO  51 

So  she  thought  we  might  as  well  send  home  our  gas-stove, 
which  we  had  had  to  keep  us  warm  in  our  summer-rooms. 
She  thought  best  to  place  the  stove  in  the  bottom  of  the  trunk 
and  place  the  bags  upon  the  stove;  so  out  came  apples,  and 
my  poor  master  was  warm  and  tired  anyway  (and  just  to 
think  he  had  come  up  to  the  lake  after  a  hard  busy  business 
week  to  get  a  rest  over  Sunday !) ;  he  got  his  rest  later  when 
he  returned  to  business.  After  the  stove  had  been  lifted  out 
four  times  and  the  bags  seven  times  by  my  "hen-pecked" 
master,  the  boss  thought  it  was  ready  to  go  to  Chicago,  so 
off  it  was  shipped  that  very  day.  Now,  it  was  obliged  to  re- 
main two  days  in  the  freight-house  by  a  mistake  of  our 
teamster  and  a  week  longer  in  our  basement  awaiting  our 
return  and  the  jelly-making.  Of  course  we  went  down  to 
see  our  beautiful  crab-apples  as  soon  as  our  inspection  of 
the  house  had  ended,  for  my  mistress  had  all  the  closets  to 
look  into,  all  the  cubby-holes  to  peep  into,  and  above  all  she 
had  to  look  under  every  bed,  just  because  she  was  a  woman, 
so  at  last  we  got  down  to  business.  Well !  I  can  not  describe 
this  scene.  Ask  your  father  if  he  ever  saw  your  mother  look 
into  a  trunk  filled  with  crushed  crab-apples,  making  cider 
by  themselves.  This  was  the  picture,  but  my  mistress's  face 
no  one  could  have  ever  painted,  for  it  changed  its  poses  so 
lightning-like  that  I  was  dazzled  at  the  wonderful  kinodrome 
in  her  usually  calm  face.  What  a  difference  in  a  picture  of 
before  and  after  taking. ' '  The  trunk  was  so  stained  that 
our  washer-woman  fell  heir  to  it,  and  the  stove  was  so  rusty 
that, — well,  we  are  still  heirs  to  the  stove.  Then  my  mama 
had  to  have  a  hand  in  the  packing,  so  she  at  the  last  moment 
had  placed  her  cape  lined  with  lavender  satin  (just  think  how 
stylish  it  would  be  now)  on  the  top  of  all,  and  when  she 
found  the  cape,  it  had  cuddled  down  under  the  stove  so  closely 
that  the  name  of  the  stove  was  perfectly  printed  upon  the 
lovely  lavender  lining,  so  no  one  fell  heir  to  the  cape.  Oh ! 
yes  the  rag-man  did  accept  it.  When  my  master  got  home 


52  MASTER   ST.  ELMO 

and  he  saw  the  scrap  that  the  crab-apples  had  had,  he  sat 
down  and  yelled,  and  the  louder  he  laughed  the  madder  my 
mistress  became,  until  I  really  thought  there  was  "some- 
thing doing  to  beat  the  band ' '  (one  of  master's  pet  expres- 
sions). When  any  one  says  "crab-apple  jelly"  now  we  all 
turn  pale.  If  your  father  laughs  I  feel  sure  he  will  hurt  my 
mistress's  feelings. 

There  was  a  very  nice  family  living  near  the  hotel,  named 
: 'Bucks."  I  ran  away  down  there  several  times  and  they 
fed  me  cake  and  let  me  lie  down  on  their  parlor  carpet. 

I  had  another  fine  place  to  visit,  and  that  was  "Mc- 
Ginty's  Farm";  such  good  people  lived  there.  They  gave 
us  apples  (I  like  apples  with  their  skins  off),  and  they  gave 
us  fresh  milk  from  their  moo-cow,  and  nice  well-water 
to  drink.  They  had  some  funny  things  on  two  legs  on  their 
farm.  I  never  had  seen  such  strange  animals;  they  had 
mixed-up  names.  One  day  I  heard  them  called  geese,  next 
time  they  were  gooses  (when  a  little  boy  spoke  of  them), 
and  again  they  were  called  goslings;  so  how  was  I  to  know 
how  to  address  them  ?  One  day  when  I  had  strolled  up  there 
all  alone,  I  went  up  to  one  of  these  funny  birds  and  as  politely 
as  a  young  man  could  address  a  young  lady,  I  said,  ' '  How 
do  you  do,  Miss  Goose  ?"and  what  do  you  think  she  did  ? 
She  just  ruffled  up  her  feathers,  stuck  up  her  nose,  and 
started  for  me.  I  fled.  I  had  insulted  her.  She  was  Mrs. 
Gooses,  I  suppose,  and  did  not  like  my  dropping  the  second 
syllable.  Later  my  master  said  she  was  protecting  her 
family,  a  dozen  of  the  ugliest  little  bead-eyed,  yellow^  goslings 
that  you  would  ever  wish  to  see,  and  she  thought  them  just 
too  sweet  for  even  me  to  look  at.  To  tell  the  truth  I  was 
aching  to  feel  their  fluffy  dresses.  My  mistress  used  to  take 
them  up  and  rub  their  soft  down  against  her  face.  How 
she  does  love  everything  that  has  life  in  it!  She  wants  to 
live  on  a  farm,  and  so  do  I. 

I  was  sauntering  again  one  day  by  the  babbling  brook 


MASTER   ST.  ELMO  53 

when  I  heard  "gobble,  gobble,  gobble,"  and  turned  to  face 
the  most  vicious  looking  two-legged  talking-machine  I  had 
encountered  thus  far  in  the  walks  of  life.  I  did  not  ask  his 
name,  but  ran  home,  never  turning  to  see  whether  he  was 
after  me,  and  I  cuddled  down  on  my  bed,  shaking  my  very 


"  THEY  HAD  A  WAY  OF  MAKING  THEIR  HAIR  FRIZZ  UP  " 

teeth  almost  out.  I  never  passed  that  way  alone;  but  about 
a  month  after,  I  was  with  my  master,  and  I  met  another 
creature  just  like  the  first,  and  when  I  started  to  go  back  my 
master  said,  "That  is  only  a  turkey-gobbler,  he  will  not 
hurt  you  if  you  let  him  alone. ' '  I  took  his  word  for  it,  but 
kept  close  to  my  master's  heels  just  the  same.  I  think,  how- 
ever, had  he  opened  his  phonographic  mouth  and  said  *  *  gob- 
ble, gobble,  gobble,"  I  should  have  dropped  dead. 


54  MASTER   ST.  ELMO 

What  a  dear  little  friend  I  had  all  to  myself !  She  lived 
under  the  sidewalk.  I  never  heard  her  name,  but  she  was  a 
little  sister  of  the  rabbit  family.  She  was  small,  with  a 
white  soft  dress  with  black  on  it,  and  she  was  indeed  very 
pretty,  she  seemed  very  timid,  for  she  would  not  let  any  one 
pet  her,  but  was  fed  under  the  walk  each  day.  How  strange 
it  was!  She  would  come  to  the  edge  of  the  walk  and  put 
her  nose  up  to  mine  for  a  kiss,  and  we  were  such  good  friends, 
but  she  never  would  let  the  other  dogs  come  near  her.  After 
awhile  they  found  two  more  sisters  for  her,  so  she  was  not 
so  homesick.  I  always  feel  sorry  for  anything  that  is  home- 
sick, for  I  have  suffered  many  a  day.  This  place  was  full 
of  pets;  one  which  I  liked  very  well  was  a  wee,  pet  chicken 
that  was  the  particular  pet  of  Marie's.  This  little  tot  used  to 
delight  in  pecking  my  feet  and  in  standing  with  all  her  weight 
upon  my  foot.  She  seemed  to  think  I  was  made  for  her 
pleasure,  so  I  just  let  her  have  her  own  way.  Oh,  yes !  I 
almost  forgot  the  three  other  pets,  kittens,  as  white  as  snow, 
when  they  had  not  been  in  the  coal-shed.  These  were  very 
beautiful,  but  so  very  important  that  I  could  not  get  close 
enough  to  them  to  decide  what  color  of  eyes  they  had.  They 
evidently  had  eyes,  for  they  always  saw  me  first.  They  had 
a  way  of  making  their  hair  frizz  up  and  humping  up  their 
backs,  so  that  they  looked  like  a  porcupine.  (I  saw  one  of 
these  things  later).  I  really  like  cats,  but  they  shun  my 
society. 


CHAPTER  XIV 

The  following  summer  we  spent  at  Lauderdale  Lakes. 
This  place  was  another  beautiful  spot  for  children — and 
dogs. 

Isn't  it  queer  that  any  place  that  is  nice  for  little  people 
is  lovely  for  dogs,  too  ?  I  had  quite  a  hardship  in  reaching 
this  place.  We  went  up  on  the  train  to  Elkhorn,  and  my 
mama  got  into  a  stage  and  my  master  and  mistress  got  on 
their  bicycles  and  all  started  off  on  a  dusty  road.  Poor  me ! 
I  took  "Shank's  mare,"  and  followed  them  all  for  seven 
long  miles,  awfully  long  miles;  they  must  have  been  two 
miles  to  one,  for  when  I  reached  the  place  of  halt,  I  was  al- 
most dead.  My  tongue  was  hanging  out  of  my  mouth,  my 
sides  were  puffing  out  and  in  like  a  blow-up  balloon,  such  as 
you  put  into  your  mouth  and  make  it  squeak  and  puff  out, 
and  my  poor  feet !  why,  they  were  burned  by  the  hot,  rough 
roads,  and  the  cushions  were  worn  smooth  and  were  as  sore 
as  boils.  I  was  what  the  boys  call  "dead  tired."  Every 
one  was  very  sorry  for  me;  they  bathed  my  feet  and  rubbed 
salve  on  them,  and  gave  me  a  soft  bed  to  lie  upon,  but  do 
you  know  it  was  a  week  before  I  could  run  and  play  and  be 
myself  again  ? 

How  sorry  my  folks  felt.  They  blamed  themselves  for 
not  being  more  considerate.  Of  course  they  did  not  suppose 
that  a  dog  would  tire  out  before  people.  I  being  their  first 
dog,  all  the  experiments  were  tried  on  me.  Seven  miles  is 
nothing  for  a  dog  to  travel  when  in  good  training,  but  I  had 
been  walking  on  sidewalks  and  soft  lawns,  so  I  was  not 
hardened. 

After  I  got  well,  I  found  this  place  another  jolly-go-as- 
you-please  rest-cure.  We  stayed  at  the  hotel  one  night  un- 

55 


56 


MASTER   ST.  ELMO 


til  we  could  get  into  a  cottage.  We  had  very  nice  neighbors 
there  at  "Gorden's  Camp,"  and  some  funny  ones  also. 
The  strange  and  funny  neighbors  did  not  like  me  very  well. 
The  big,  fat  neighbor  grunted  every  time  I  peeped  through 
the  fence  at  her,  and  after  a  few  days  when  I  peeped  through, 


GUARDING  CAMP 


what  do  you  suppose  I  saw  ?     The  funny  neighbor  with  nine 

v  L    1  v 

little  funny  neighbors  all  eating  their  dinner.  These  little 
piggies  were  only  three  hours  old.  After  that  day,  I  spent 
hours  watching  this  curious  family,  but  I  had  very  angry 
talks  with  this  spirited  lady,  for  she  used  to  tell  me  to  go  away 
from  her  beautiful  darlings ;  and  I  used  to  tell  her  that  I  would 
not  hurt  them,  that  I  was  curious  only  to  see  what  they  were 
finding  upon  the  ground,  for  they  would  spend  most  of  their 
time  with  their  noses  in  the  mud,  and  I  could  not  get  into 


MASTER   ST.  ELMO 


57 


the  yard  to  see  what  was  so  interesting  to  them.  Before  I 
left  this  lake  (would  you  believe  it  ?)  they  were  all  big  enough 
to  come  to  the  fence,  and  be  just  as  impolite  as  their  mother 
was,  telling  me  to  go  away,  and  mind  my  own  business. 
This  large  camp  was  divided  into  sections,  and  the  different 
nationalities  occupied  particular  locations.  Of  course  the 
Americans  had  the 
highest  points  and  the 
best  surroundings ;  then 
the  foreigners,  such  as 
the  Alpine  goats  and 
sheep,  occupied  another 
high  place;  then  the 
cows  and  their  little 
cowies  lived  out  of 
doors  all  the  time,  with 
a  beautiful  green  carpet 
under  their  feet;  the 
next  nationality  was  the 
"Plymouth  Rock" 
chickens;  they  seemed 

to  visit  around  in  the  daytime,  but  at  night  they  had  a  high 
bed  to  sleep  on  in  a  clean,  white  house.  But  would  you  im- 
agine for  a  minute  they  could  sleep  perched  up  on  one  foot 
on  a  narrow  board  all  along  in  a  line  ?  I  really  think  they 
were  not  of  the  nightmare  kind  of  folks  or  they  surely  would 
have  fallen  off  and  have  broken  their  necks.  I  guess  they 
did  not  belong  to  the  snoring  family  either,  for  they  seemed 
to  be  good  friends. 

Near  to  the  camp  in  the  best  house,  next  to  the  American 
people's  house,  lived  the  next  nationality;  this  was  Arabian. 
This  high-strung,  kicking,  neighing,  class  of  people  was 
known  as  "the  horse  family. "  Now,  they  were  very  useful 
of  course,  to  take  the  people  through  the  country,  so  that  they 
should  not  get  sore  feet  as  I  did ;  for  you  know  horses  wear 


PIGGIES  THREE  HOURS  OLD 


58  MASTER   ST.  ELMO 

iron  shoes.  The  horses  were  essential  and  deserved  a  good 
home.  Then  there  were  neighbors  unclassed,  as  I  did  not 
learn  their  nationality.  They  were  the  frogs,  the  toads,  the 
bumble-bees,  the  spiders,  the  flies,  and  oh  my !  the  very  busy 
mosquito.  Another  family  that  most  folks  did  not  like  for 
neighbors  was  the  snake  family,  but  they  amused  me  the 
most.  I  used  to  put  my  foot  down  on  them,  so  that  they 
could  not  run  away,  and  I  would  chase  them  all  around,  until 
some  big  person  would  give  a  scream  and  make  me  stop 
chasing  snakes  into  her  cabin.  Now,  these  little,  wiggling 
animals  must  have  been  the  "squatters,"  and  have  been 
entitled  to  this  land,  for  they  drove  every  one  away  from  the 
spot  where  they  squatted,  and  usurped  all  the  land.  They 
were  harmless  little  inhabitants  and  never  talked  back  to 
you,  but  just  went  on  attending  to  their  own  business,  for 
they  would  not  meddle  with  yours  if  you  let  them  alone. 
They  seemed  to  be  boss  of  the  big  folks,  all  right. 

I  nearly  forgot  the  other  charming  inhabitants,  the  ones 
all  people  love.  The  birds  I  shall  mention  first,  they  seem 
to  me  to  be  the  farthest  away  foreigners  of  all.  They  are 
fond  of  building  nests  on  the  land,  but  go  awTay  to  make  their 
calls,  that  is,  they  do  not  come  near  us,  but  they  do  sing 
beautiful  songs  and  help  make  the  world  cheerful.  These 
little  foreigners  are  of  a  mixed  nationality,  and  it  would  fill 
many  pages  to  assort  them  out  for  you,  so  as  I  am  only  a  dog, 
and  not  up  on  the  history  of  flying-machines,  I  refer  you  to 
the  delightful  bird-books.  The  other  little  neighbors,  the 
squirrels,  I  have  the  most  fun  with,  for  they  are  so  cunning 
and  pretty.  How  they  wink  at  me  and  tease  me.  One 
minute  they  are  sitting  up  holding  a  nut  in  their  hands  and 
winking  at  me,  then  in  a  moment  they  are  up  a  tree  looking 
down  and  saying,  * '  How  is  that  for  high  ? ' '  with  the  meanest 
little  sneer  on  their  pretty  faces,  and  with  one  eye  closed  to 
show  me  that  I  am  not  the  only  foxy  creature  on  earth.  I 
love  to  bark  at  them,  and  sometimes  I  stand  so  long  looking 


MASTER   ST.  ELMO  61 

up  the  tree,  that  my  neck  is  stretched  clear  out,  and  it  takes 
hours  to  get  it  back  into  shape.  But  what  fun !  I  am  just  in 
play,  and  I  think  that  they  know  it,  only  they  like  to  tease. 
What  pretty  tails  these  squirrels  have  and  how  nice  they  are 
for  fanning  and  keeping  them  cool  in  the  summer  time.  The 
chipmunks  are  my  mistress's  especial  wild  pets  and  she  likes 
to  feed  them,  so  she  will  not  let  me  chase  them  away.  I 
can't  have  any  fun  with  chipmunks  so  I  never  studied  their 
nationality;  still  I  think  they  are  Americans,  for  my  mistress 
seems  to  be  partial  to  every  one  and  everything  American. 

All  these  that  I  have  spoken  of  were  my  most  intimate 
acquaintances,  but  we  had  some  other  neighbors  who  were 
more  like  my  mistress,  and  one  lady  in  particular  was  very 
good  to  me.  She  had  a  cottage  a  few  doors  from  ours  and 
the  first  thing  in  the  morning  when  I  was  turned  loose,  I 
would  go  to  her  cottage  and  bark  at  the  door.  She  never 
sent  a  maid  to  say  she  was  not  at  home,  but  always  met  me 
with  a  smile  and  welcomed  me  as  graciously  as  though  I 
were  her  dearest  friend ;  and  she  was  mine.  When  I  walked 
into  her  house  I  always  looked  on  the  table  and  went  through 
the  pantry,  and  if  I  wanted  anything  I  stood  and  barked  at 
it,  and  she  always  understood.  I  took  possession  of  her  best 
couch  in  the  parlor  with  lovely  soft  pillows  and  slept  on  her 
best  Turkish  rugs;  nothing  was  too  good  for  me  in  her  eyes. 
She  had  a  dandy  little  boy  named  Donald  who  liked  me 
quite  as  well  as  did  his  mama,  so  we  had  fine  times  together, 
as  you  can  see  by  our  pictures  in  the  water.  I  was  there,  but 
you  do  not  see  me,  for  I  was  too  large  for  the  little  hole  in 
the  camera  to  paste  me  on  the  glass. 

Donald  had  three  playmates,  Mildred,  Hazel,  and  Sloan, 
and  we  all  went  bathing  together  and  sailed  our  boats.  The 
girls  were  twins  and  they  were  the  cutest  little  girls  that  I 
ever  saw.  Hazel  could  swim  after  her  first  lesson,  and  she 
was  only  six  years  old.  The  children  would  blow  up  pillow- 
cases and  tie  a  string  around  the  ends  and  use  them  for  life- 


62  MASTER   ST.  ELMO 

preservers  in  the  water;  we  used  to  have  lots  of  fun.  Don- 
ald remembers  us  every  Christmas,  and  some  day  I  am  going 
again  to  the  place  where  he  lives  in  the  summer.  I  do  like 
good  children.  I  was  sorry  when  school-time  began  for  we 
all  left  the  country.  We  went  to  Elkhorn  to  meet  the  train 
there,  and  rode  over  in  a  hay-rack  drawn  by  farm  horses 
(nationality  German).  The  two  trunks  were  in  the  back, 
and  the  two  bicycles  also,  which  I  was  thankful  for.  Across 
the  wagon  was  a  board  (my  folks  said  after  a  few  miles  that 
it  was  a  hard  board).  Do  you  know  what  kind  of  board  it 
was  ? 

The  two  ladies  of  my  family  were  seated  upon  this  hard 
board  and  my  master  upon  another  (same  kind)  in  the  front 
of  the  wagon.  Then  we  had  another  occupant,  a  little  farm 
boy,  who  drove  us  into  the  town.  My !  what  style !  The 
good  farmer  put  a  soft  quilt  down  in  the  wagon  for  me  to  lie 
upon  and  under  that  was  straw.  Just  imagine  a  city  dog 
being  asked  to  sleep  upon  straw !  I  graduated  from  that  two 
years  before,  so  I  felt  my  importance  and  sat  on  the  hard 
board  between  the  two  ladies  until  the  rain  came  pouring 
down,  then  I  was  glad  to  get  away  down  under  the  quilt,  for  if 
there  is  any  one  thing  I  dislike  above  another  it  is  to  be 
sprinkled.  I  don't  mind  a  good  plunge  all  over,  but  I  do 
not  like  to  get  wet  in  spots.  The  family  got  drenched  and 
they  had  to  open  the  trunks  at  the  depot  to  get  dry  clothes. 
My  clothes  were  all  nice  and  dry,  only  my  socks  got  muddy 
when  I  jumped  out  of  the  wagon.  I  washed  them  myself  so 
I  made  no  trouble  for  the  unfortunate  ones. 


CHAPTER  XV 

Nothing  happened  during  the  fall  and  winter  months  in 
Chicago  (it  always  seems  a  little  slow  when  I  get  home,  for 
Chicago  is  a  quiet  place  for  a  dog),  consequently  I  shall  have 
to  begin  this  chapter  with  my  next  outing  at  Eagle  River. 

We  left  on  the  fifteenth  day  of  August  in  the  evening.  The 
berth  that  was  assigned  to  me  was  in  the  baggage-car,  and 
there  I  was  once  more  chained  to  the  radiator.  This  time, 
however,  I  had  a  comfortable  bed,  and  a  good  man  gave  me 
water.  I  find  lots  of  good  men  in  the  dog  sleeping-car  busi- 
ness. 

We  reached  Eagle  River  the  next  morning  at  five  o'clock; 
it  was  so  cloudy  and  smoky  that  I  thought  I  was  back  in 
Chicago.  There  was  an  electric  launch  waiting  for  us  to 
take  us  to  "Everett's  Resort,"  about  nine  miles  from  the 
town.  I  must  tell  you  what  a  little  four-year-old  boy  called 
this  boat — '  *  a  vaseline  lunch. ' '  My  master  said  he  meant 
to  say  a  gasoline  launch.  Well,  boys,  if  you  want  to  go  to  a 
jolly,  fine  place,  where  children  and  dogs  hold  full  sway,  and 
where  the  papas  can  catch  real  fish,  go  to  "Everett's  Resort," 
Eagle  River,  Wisconsin.  The  eating  is  first-class  and  the 
log  cabins  are  clean  and  comfortable,  while  the  j  oiliest  inn- 
keeper that  dogs  ever  saw  keeps  the  place;  he  little  knows 
that  I  am  writing  about  him,  but  I  want  all  the  boys  to  know 
where  this  splendid  resort  is,  way  up  in  the  pines,  on  a  little 
peninsula,  which  is  almost  an  island,  surrounded  by  Cat- 
fish and  Cranberry  lakes,  and  where  I  was  very  kindly 
treated  by  the  good  landlord. 

There  were  only  nine  dogs  on  the  place.  The  tiniest  was 
"Dolly,"  who  was  the  size  of  my  head;  she  was  boss, 
and  made  us  all  "toe  the  mark."  Next  in  size  was 

65 


66 


MASTER   ST.  ELMO 


'Frank,"  who  belonged  to  a  guest;    Frank  was   just  the 
next  size  to  "the  boss";  then  came  "Smut";  he  was  so 
black  his  master  gave  him  that  name,  but  he  was  the  hand- 
somest of  us  all,  and  a  step- 
brother to  "Dolly." 

"Nip"  and  <:Tuck"  were 
twins,  both  fine  cocker  span- 
iels. They  comprised  the 
firm  of  "Nip  and  Tuck 
Bird-Dog  Company."  "Nip" 
represented  the  social  side 
of  the  firm,  and  "Tuck"  the 
business  end.  "Nip"  made 
friends  with  the  hunters, 
found  out  their  ways  and 
traits,  and  gave  the  pointers 
to  his  partner,  "Tuck,"  who 
handled  the  affairs  of  the 
company,  leading  the  hun- 
ters or  his  customers  to  the 
right  spot  for  game,  and  en- 
gineering the  party  through 
the  tanglewood  of  the  forest 
and  bringing  them  safely 
home.  At  the  sight  of  a  gun 
he  was  ready  and  willing  to 
head  any  army,  but  his  social 
partner,  "Nip,"  did  not  like 
a  gun,  and  refused  to  enter  into  any  game  that  would 
destroy  life.  He  had  the  same  feelings  as  I  had;  he  did 
not  want  to  hurt  anything,  so  we  often  discussed  such  cruel 
sport.  Of  course,  "Tuck"  made  money — I  think  about  a 
dollar  an  hour — -and  as  there  were  many  in  a  party  they 
could  afford  to  pay  for  their  sport. 

Every  time  a  fisherman,  or  one  who  thought  he  was  a 


NIP 


MASTER  [ST.  ELMO  67 

fisherman,  would  bring  in  a  "muskalonge,"  the  landlord 
would  fire  off  a  big  cannon  fire-cracker  on  the  pier,  and  then 
every  one  would  run  down  to  see  the  "musky." 

The  game  law  in  Wisconsin  will  not  permit  hunters  to 
kill  deer  out  of  season,  and  I  wish  it  never  were  in  season, 
for  these  animals  are  so  pretty  and  innocent,  with  such 
pleading,  almost  human  eyes,  that  I  cannot  see  how  any 
man  can  slaughter  one  so  trusting  as  they. 

This  is  a  wild  country  in  the  winter  when  the  people  go 
away,  for  the  wildcats  prowl  around  there  and  other  small 
wild  animals.  One  day  three  deer  swam  in  front  of  our 
boat.  They  were  crossing  the  lake,  and  when  they  saw 
us  they  were  so  frightened  that  they  swam  away  from  us, 
and  landed  on  the  nearest  point  of  land.  The  first  was  the 
big  deer,  the  papa  deer,  then  followed  the  doe,  the  mama 
deer,  and  after  her  swam  the  cutest  little  fawn,  the  baby  deer. 
This  happy  family  had  no  doubt  gone  across  the  lake  in  the 
early  morning  to  look  for  food,  and  were  going  home  just  at 
sunset. 

It  was  a  most  beautiful  picture  and  very  interesting,  as 
each  one,  as  it  landed,  looked  around,  shook  itself,  and 
bounded  into  the  dense  forest.  My  mistress  had  her  camera 
in  the  boat,  but  was  too  spellbound  to  take  a  picture.  She 
says  she  had  what  the  hunters  have  sometimes  when  they 
face  a  deer,  the  "buck  fever." 


CHAPTER  XVI 

When  August  came  in  1902,  I  heard  some  talk  about  a 
vacation,  and  I  wondered  whether  I  was  to  go  this  time,  for 
I  did  wish  I  were  going  back  to  see  "Peg"  or  "Nip."  When 
the  trunks  came  up  from  the  storeroom,  I  kept  close  watch 
for  a  few  days,  fearing  that  I  might  be  left  out  of  this  trip 
(you  see  when  my  mistress  goes  away  in  the  fall  she  leaves  me 
at  home) ;  so,  of  course,  I  kept  guessing  until  I  saw  my  har- 
ness and  chain  brought  out  and  left  upon  the  trunk,  which  is 
always  a  good  omen,  for  it  tells  me  that  I  am  surely  on  the 
list  of  fashionable  dogs  that  are  to  spend  the  summer  out  of 
the  city.  Two  days  passed  before  the  family  mentioned  the 
fact  to  me,  still  I  watched  the  packing  of  three  trunks,  and 
when  the  third  one  was  packed  I  knew  that  my  master  had 
had  an  invitation  to  go,  for  it  contained  just  the  things  you 
boys  would  delight  in — three  fishing-rods,  a  landing  net,  reels, 
a  big  minnow-pail,  a  fishing  tackle  box  with  innumerable 
hooks  and  flies  to  lure  poor  fish;  two  pairs  of  old  shoes,  two 
suits  of  old  clothes  to  supply  the  fisherman  with  dry  duds, 
as  they  all  seem  to  get  as  wet  as  they  can — that  is  what  my 
mistress  says,  but  don't  you  tell.  She  throws  his  old  duds 
away  each  year,  and  how  my  master  stews  around  for  a  time, 
until  he  finds  some  clothes  that  will  answer,  for  they  must 
look  as  if  they  had  had  lots  of  use  and  real  "fisherman  like," 
you  know.  I  had  to  laugh  once  when  my  master  went  way 
to  the  bottom  of  his  trunk  for  an  old  "stand-by,"  as  he  called 
it,  but  I  thought  it  was  a  felt  slouch  hat.  Well,  he  could  not 
find  it,  and  he  stormed  around,  and  all  the  time  my  mistress, 
with  a  twinkle  in  her  eye,  kept  saying,  "Can't  you  find  it, 
dear  ?"  But  "dear"  never  found  that  hat  until  he  went  back 
to  the  city,  when  he  discovered  it  hung  up  in  his  den,  for  a 

68 


MASTER   ST.  ELMO  69 

curiosity.  It  was  really  a  terrible  thing  for  a  gentleman  to 
wear,  all  shot  full  of  holes  by  a  Winchester  rifle.  I  used  to 
see  him  throw  it  up  in  the  air  and  shoot  at  it,  but  even  now 
he  longs  for  that  hat  every  summer.  My  mistress  is  the  real 
boss  in  our  family,  so  she  found  him  a  better  looking  straw 
hat,  but  he  gets  so  mad  at  it  when  he  is  out  in  a  boat  fishing 
upon  a  windy  day,  for,  just  as  he  is  about  to  land  a  big  fish, 
that  clumsy  hat  blows  off;  and,  as  natural  instinct  tells  him  to 
let  go  and  grab  the  old  hat,  which  he  does,  he  loses  fish,  rod, 
and  tackle.  He  always  said  something  to  the  hat,  but  I 
never  understood  what  he  said,  and  I  was  afraid  to  ask  him 
to  repeat  it,  as  he  seemed  a  little  despondent  at  these  times. 
Has  your  "pa"  ever  been  a-fishing  and  had  his  hat  blow  off  ? 
Ask  him.  I'm  real  quiet  when  I  go  fishing.  I  never  talk, 
as  children  do,  nor  do  I  scream  as  the  girls,  and  scare  away 
the  fish.  Some  folks  say  that  fish  have  no  ears  to  hear  talk- 
ing, but  that  the  women-folks  are  told  that  they  have  in 
order  to  keep  them  quiet  in  a  boat.  I  like  hunting  the  best, 
that  is,  the  way  that  my  mistress  and  I  hunt.  We  take  a  gun 
and  go  away  off  into  the  woods  and  shoot  at  targets,  tree- 
tops,  old  stumps,  bottles,  cans,  and  any  old  dead  thing  that 
we  find,  but  we  never  kill  anything  on  our  hunting  expedi- 
tions. We  just  look  at  the  pretty  birds,  squirrels,  rabbits, 
partridges,  and  the  graceful  deer.  My  master  says  that  it 
is  no  fun  hunting  with  my  mistress,  because  if  he  kills  any- 
thing she  cries,  and  all  the  time  she  is  wishing  no  huntable 
animal  will  appear,  for  he  is  a  good  shot.  It  is  the  same, 
my  master  says,  when  she  goes  fishing  with  him ;  all  the  time 
she  is  wishing  the  fish  will  not  bite,  so  he  has  no  luck,  he  says. 
But  my !  my  mistress  is  the  humanest  person  I  ever  saw. 
Why,  she  will  not  kill  a  fly ;  she  opens  the  window  and  lets  it 
go  out,  and  just  after  it  has  been  pestering  me  for  an  hour 
so  that  I  could  not  sleep.  Sometimes  I  think  that  she 
does  not  know  that  there  is  anything  bad  in  this  world ;  she 
often  says  she  wishes  that  every  one  were  good,  and  that 


70  MASTER   ST.  ELMO 

there  were  no  wars  nor  wickedness  on  earth,  and  no 
poverty. 

One  day  when  we  were  out  in  the  forest,  my  master  shot 
a  partridge  (my  mistress  called  it  a  "poor  partridge,"  so  I 
guess  that  was  the  correct  name).  Well,  I  was  sent  to  bring 
it  to  them,  and  I  had  to  jump  over  bushes  that  stuck  me, 
and  crawl  under  logs,  and  I  had  a  terrible  time  making  a 
path.  I  found  the  "poor  partridge,"  and  picked  it  up  in  my 
mouth,  but  Oh!  I  dropped  it,  for  it  was  dead,  and  it  gave 
me  such  a  shock.  I  had  never  touched  anything  uncooked 
in  my  life — all  my  meat  is  cooked — so,  of  course,  it  made  a 
funny  chill  run  over  my  long  body,  and  the  chill  was  so  much 
harder  because  I  was  so  large ;  but  all  pain  is  harder  for  long 
people  than  for  short  people,  for  the  chill  has  farther  to  go 
in  order  to  reach  its  destination.  What  a  funny  thing  a 
chill  is.  It  reminds  me  of  an  automobile  running  along,  here 
in  one  place  now,  then,  before  you  can  catch  your  breath, 
it  has  fled.  However,  I  carried  the  "poor  partridge"  by  the 
wing  and  dropped  it  at  my  master's  feet.  I  really  thought 
he  would  feel  sorry,  but  he  didn't  cry.  You  know  men  are 
not  so  tender-hearted  as  women.  I  hope  my  master  will 
not  ask  me  to  carry  his  parcels  again,  for  I  want  to  obey; 
still,  I  cannot  stand  such  shocks.  I'll  tell  you  a  joke  on  my 
master,  right  here.  The  game-warden  got  after  the  hunters, 
but  they  did  not  catch  him.  We  left  the  next  day.  The 
other  fellows  lost  their  guns  and  had  to  appear  in  court, 
but  I  heard  they  had  been  shooting  all  season  without  a 
license,  so  their  guns  were  taken  for  punishment.  People 
cannot  disobey  the  law  without  being  punished. 

I  started  to  tell  you  about  my  trip,  and  got  switched  off 
again  from  my  first  track.  I  have  never  written  a  story  be- 
fore, so  you  must  bear  with  my  shortcomings. 

We  left  Chicago  one  pleasant  morning  on  the  North- 
western train,  and  traveled  through  a  most  beautiful  country, 
passing  Madison,  the  capital  of  Wisconsin,  and  her  pictur- 


MASTER   ST.  ELMO  71 

esque  lakes.  We  got  off  at  a  place  called  Kirkland,  on  the 
shore  of  Devil's  Lake,  and  were  ushered  into  a  nice  little 
cottage  right  by  the  water's  edge.  I  sized  this  up,  for  I  cal- 
culated on  having  daily,  and  maybe  hourly,  swims.  I  was 
more  than  pleased.  We  all  slept  in  this  three-room  abode, 
but  my  family  seemed  to  be  invited  out  to  all  their  meals. 
As  soon  as  a  big  horn  would  blow,  they  would  go  to  the  pa- 
vilion, where  a  lady  filled  them  up  with  plenty  of  good  things 
to  eat.  I  was  left  in  the  cottage,  and  had  my  meals  served 
there.  I  should  have  lots  rather  gone  to  the  dining-room 
for  my  meals,  but  I  guess  my  family  thought  that  they  were 
pleasing  me  and  saving  me  the  trip  three  times  a  day,  for 
I  did  have  to  play  very  hard  every  day.  They  certainly 
had  fine  cooking  up  there,  and  all  fruits  and  vegetables 
from  the  landlady's  own  farm.  This  lady  was  Mrs.  Kirk, 
and  she  was  very  good  to  children  and  dogs.  She  gave  me 
plenty  of  fresh  milk  and  all  I  wanted  to  eat.  We  enjoyed 
that  place  beyond  description,  and  we  expect  to  go  there 
again.  The  water  in  the  lake  is  so  soft  it  feels  as  if  you  are 
soaped  all  over.  It  is  slippery  feeling,  you  know.  Then  it 
is  so  clear  that  you  can  go  in  bathing  and  look  down  and 
count  your  toes.  When  we  left  for  home,  this  good  lady 
gave  us  a  basket  of  luscious  grapes,  grown  in  her  own  vine- 
yard, back  of  our  cottage.  This  is  a  fine  place  to  go,  boys 
and  girls.  My  coat  was  never  so  clean  and  glossy  as  while 
there  taking  my  swims  in  this  soft  water;  the  sand  on  the 
beach,  too,  was  so  white  and  clean  that  I  could  use  it  for  my 
bath-towel.  It  is  an  ideal  place,  and  we  all  have  a  yearning 
for  the  "Kirk  Farm."  I  will  describe  to  my  little  readers, 
who  have  not  been  there,  something  of  the  beauties  of  this 
resort.  The  wonderful  formations  of  the  rocks,  with  their 
lovely  coloring,  is  a  picture  that  you  will  have  to  see  yourself 
in  order  to  appreciate  it.  I  may  show  you  a  picture  or  two 
if  I  have  space  in  my  book.  The  pastures  were  fine,  and 
the  orchards  with  plenty  of  apples,  dandy  for  boys;  also 


72 


MASTER   ST.  ELMO 


places  for  hazelnuts  in  quantities  attracted  lots  of  attention. 
I  used  to  go  with  the  crowd,  unless  they  climbed  the  bluffs, 
then  I  was  left  at  home.  And,  if  they  only  knew  it,  I  could 
climb  better  than  any  of  them,  for  I  have  soft  cushions  on 


TOMAHAWK  ROCK 

my  feet  which  adhere  to  the  stones.  The  big  folks  say  that 
you  can  see  all  over  when  you  get  to  the  top  of  these  little 
mountains,  and  that  the  lake  and  everything  else  looks  like 
a  small  picture  of  a  grand  landscape.  One  small  bluff  I  did 
climb,  as  my  curiosity  got  the  better  of  me,  and  there  I  saw 
a  big  rock,  just  the  shape  of  an  elephant.  It  was  called 


MASTER   ST.  ELMO 


73 


"Elephant  rock."  I  was  a  little  afraid  of  it  at  first,  until  I 
saw  children  putting  their  hands  on  it,  so  I  went  up  and  dis- 
covered it  was  a  cold  elephant,  and  quite  tame. 

I  think  you  would  like  to  hear  about  a  friend  of  mine,  a 
real  personal  friend,  who  lived  here  in  a  tent  just  for  the 


"  A  COLD  ELEPHANT,  AND  QUITE  TAME  " 

summer.  Her  name  was  "Miss  Guess,"  but,  being  familiar 
with  her,  I  knew  her  as  "Guess."  She  was  really  the  smart- 
est dog  that  I  had  ever  become  acquainted  with  in  all  of  my 
pilgrimages.  Her  clothes  were  black  and  white,  just  in  the 
latest  fashion,  and  she  had  a  beautiful  bushy  tail.  I  rather 
envied  her  that  tail,  as  it  was  a  fine  fly  and  mosquito  brush; 
and  look  at  mine,  no  feathers  on  it  at  all — that  dreadful  wind 
in  Kansas  blew  all  mine  off  when  I  was  a  puppy.  Well, 
"Guess's"  family  consisted  of  a  master  and  a  mistress  and 


74  MASTER   ST.  ELMO 

herself,  just  as  many  as  in  my  family,  lacking  one,  and  they 
all  lived  in  a  tent  and  dined  there,  too.  I  used  to  spend  lots 
of  spare  time  there,  and  they  were  very  good  to  me.  I 
could  fill  the  rest  of  the  book  with  what  they  did  and  how 
they  treated  me,  but  I  must  not  be  partial,  as  other  friends 
are  waiting  for  their  pictures  and  characters  to  be  read. 
But  a  little  about  "Guess."  Don't  you  see  she  looks  smart  ? 
She  could  add  or  subtract  up  to  seven,  giving  you  the  correct 
answer  in  barks;  she  would  tell  you  how  old  she  was,  and 
she  did  many  hard  tricks.  The  best  and  cutest,  I  think, 
that  she  did  was  to  play  the  piano  and  sing.  This  is  really 
so,  cross  my  heart.  One  evening  we  were  up  at  the  camp, 
and  it  was  pitch  dark  when  we  started  for  our  cottage;  so 
her  master  said  in  a  voice  just  as  he  used  to  talk  to  us: 
"Guess,  you  go  with  these  friends  and  show  them  the  path, 
and  bring  the  lantern  back  to  me."  Nothing  more  was  said, 
and  we  started  with  the  lantern,  she  running  ahead  picking 
the  path.  When  we  got  to  our  cottage,  Guess  stopped  in 
front  of  my  master,  looked  up  in  his  face,  and  waited  until 
he  put  the  handle  of  the  lantern  in  her  mouth;  then  she 
found  the  path  and  returned  with  the  lantern  safely  to  her 
master  in  the  camp.  She  was  the  best  trained  dog  we  had 
met  with,  and  the  family  always  spoke  to  her  in  a  gentle, 
kind  way,  saying,  if  she  seemed  tired,  and  they  could  see 
that  she  would  rather  not  do  her  tricks,  "Doesn't  the  little 
girl  want  to  do  her  arithmetic  ?"  I  had  a  chance  one  eve- 
ning to  get  a  little  boom  my  way.  You  see,  I  had  been  spoiled 
so  I  did  my  tricks  only  when  I  felt  like  it.  They  never  could 
depend  upon  me — I  had  to  be  just  in  the  humor  to  do  mine. 
So  this  night  a  company  was  on  our  porch  and  wanted  to 
see  and  hear  "Guess"  perform.  Of  course,  I  insisted  also, 
but  she  put  her  head  on  her  master's  knee  and  her  paw  in 
his  hand,  and  looking  up  into  his  face  with  her  soft,  ex- 
pressive eyes  whispered,  "Please  excuse  me,  master,  I  am 
so  warm  and  tired."  So  he  did  not  urge  her,  as  he  said 


Miss  GUESS 


MASTER   ST.  ELMO  77 

that  she  never  refused  when  she  felt  well.  She  was  a  ner- 
vous, delicate  little  dog,  and  they  never  urged  her.  How  I 
wish  every  one  understood  us  poor  dogs !  The  joke  came 
in  here:  when  she  asked  to  be  excused  for  not  perform- 
ing, I  stepped  forward  and  stood  before  my  master,  and 
offered  him  my  paw,  the  right  one,  and  he  "caught  on"  that 
I  was  ready  to  do  my  tricks.  So  he  asked  me  to  count 
three,  which  I  did;  then  he  said,  "How  many  are  two  and 
two  ?"  I  barked  four  times.  Then  to  another  question 
as  to  my  age,  I  barked  five  times,  for  I  was  five  years  old; 
then  I  turned  around  and  sat  down  in  my  master's  lap. 
Again,  my  master  held  a  piece  of  candy  in  his  right  hand 
and  I  barked  one,  so  I  got  that;  he  held  another  piece  in 
his  left  hand,  I  barked  two  for  the  left.  I  also  ate  that 
piece.  I  then  sang  for  them  in  my  loudest  bass  voice,  and, 
after  completing  my  performance,  I  was  sent  to  sit  down 
in  mama's  lap,  which  I  did  with  a  very  satisfied  feeling. 
How  the  guests  all  laughed,  and  my  family  was  so  tickled, 
as  they  did  not  pose  me  as  a  trick  dog.  But  with  all  this,  I 
still  hold  out  that  "Guess"  is  the  smarter,  for  she  must 
surely  reason;  so  "I  take  off  my  hat  to  'Miss  Guess."  I 
do  hope  I  shall  see  her  again,  for  we  agreed  so  nicely.  She 
is  more  beautiful  than  her  picture,  which  is  always  the  case 
when  ladies  have  a  picture  taken.  We  bade  farewell  to  our 
dear  friends  and  to  "Guess"  one  lovely  morning,  and  left 
this  enchanted  place  for  Baraboo.  Look  on  your  maps  and 
find  this  place.  After  taking  in  this  little  town  we  got  into 
a  three-seated  bus  and  started  over  to  a  place  where  lots  of 
brides  and  grooms  spend  their  honeymoon  (my  family  went 
there  twelve  years  ago  on  theirs).  This  place  is  called  "The 
Dells,"  and  Kilbourn  City  is  the  fashionable  place  to  have 
your  baggage  checked  to,  but  we  had  ours  in  the  bus,  al- 
though when  my  family  was  on  their  wedding  trip  their 
baggage  was  carted  to  the  hotel  in  a  little  hand-wagon.  It 
was  five  o'clock  in  the  morning  when  they  arrived,  and  it 


78  MASTER   ST.  ELMO 

was  too  early  for  the  bus,  so  they  had  to  walk  two  blocks  to 
reach  the  hotel.  That  was  not  veiy  stylish  when  they  were 
on  their  wedding  trip,  I  imagine,  but  it  had  to  be  done. 
Others  suffered  the  same  mortification.  Just  to  think ! 
Upon  the  first  morning  of  your  honeymoon,  when  you  want 
to  show  how  very  important  you  are,  to  take  your  sweet, 
trusting  bride  to  a  hotel  following  her  trousseau  in  a  "Sara- 
toga" on  a  wagon  drawn  by  a  small  man.  Was  that  not 
swell  ?  The  family  seem  to  think  it  a  great  joke  now,  for 
they  often  laugh  about  that  trip. 

On  this  ride  over  to  "The  Dells,"  we  had  the  benefit  of 
some  charming  scenery,  but  lots  of  dust.  My  master  en- 
gaged a  three-seated  omnibus  so  as  to  take  out  one  seat 
and  give  me  a  place  to  lie  down.  Do  you  think  I  could  lie 
down  when  we  were  passing  so  many  sights  —  such  as 
farms,  cows,  country  dogs,  and  all  sorts  of  things  ?  So  I  just 
ignored  the  place  allotted  to  me,  and  crowded  between  my 
mama  and  my  mistress,  and  sat  down  on  the  seat.  I  never 
can  avoid  seeing  all  that  is  going  on.  After  we  had  gone  a 
long  way  we  stopped  at  a  farm,  and  all  got  out.  I  was  glad 
to  straighten  out  my  legs  again,  as  I  felt  rather  stiff  riding  so 
long.  This  time  we  stayed  at  "Berry's  Farm,"  or  "Cold 
Water  Canon  Farm,"  as  some  call  it. 

This  was  another  place  where  we  had  fine  table-board, 
and  where  I  got  plenty  of  fresh  milk.  I  like  good  milk  and  I 
am  very  thankful  that  they  analyze  all  milk  in  Chicago,  for 
I  have  to  drink  different  cows'  milk  there.  We  had  another 
cottage  at  this  farm,  and  I  was  extra  happy,  for  they  had  so 
many  cows,  calves,  horses,  and  chickens  that  I  was  very 
busy  getting  acquainted  with  their  ways.  It  is  so  queer  to 
me;  each  cow  seems  to  have  her  own  idea  about  dogs,  and 
one  never  knows  quite  how  to  approach  her.  My  mistress 
seems  to  understand  their  language  better  than  I,  for  she 
walks  right  up  to  them,  scratches  their  heads,  and  puts  her 
arms  around  a  cow  that  makes  a  face  at  me  and  runs  with 


MASTER   ST.  ELMO 


79 


her  horns  to  the  ground  after  me;  for  my  mistress  seems  to 
boss  even  a  cow,  and  cows  are  generally  bossies.  My  mis- 
tress goes  to  the  "Zoo"  and  pets  the  big  lion,  "Prince,"  who 
lets  her  scratch  his  back.  She  is  painting  his  picture,  and 
if  it  is  good  I  will  show  you  a  picture  of  it  later,  for  he  is  a 
handsome  lion.  The  lady  on 
this  farm  was  very  kind  to  me, 
and  to  all  children.  The 
calves  being  so  young  they 
did  not  know  what  kind  of 
four-legged  animal  I  was,  so 
they  would  stand  as  if  dumb 

t/ 

and  watch  me  with  great  curi- 
osity. You  see,  some  folks 
say  that  I  look  like  a  calf,  be- 
ing the  color  of  some  "Jer- 
seys"; so  the  little  children- 
cows  did  not  know  but  that 
I  was  their  brother.  Their 
"mas"  always  knew  what  I 
was.  Other  people  say  that 
I  look  like  a  deer.  What  do  I  look  like,  little  people  ? 

"The  Dells"  is  a  most  beautiful  place,  and  I  shall  try  to 
show  you  some  pictures  of  the  rocks.  The  canons  are  very 
cool  and  peculiar,  winding  in  and  out,  with  beautiful  mosses 
and  foliage  about ;  even  ferns  grow  from  the  rocks  and  make 
charming  pictures.  It  is  a  treat  upon  a  scorching  day  to 
rest  in  one  of  these  beautiful,  cool  canons,  away  from  the 
noise  and  worry  of  life.  And  in  these  restful  spots  my 
thoughts  turned  to  my  own  life ;  and  I  collected  my  first  frag- 
ments of  this  little  story  for  you,  dear  children,  there  in  those 
enchanting  dreamlands,  with  the  birds  singing  their  happy 
songs  of  welcome,  the  crickets  and  katydids  chirping  their 
thankfulness  for  nature's  beauty,  and  the  cunning  squirrels 
and  chipmunks  playing  hide-and-seek  amongst  the  beauti- 


Two  "  BOSSES  " 


80  MASTER   ST.  ELMO 

ful  ferns.  Then  listen,  the  restless  river  flows  on  and  on, 
reminding  one  of  his  life  as  it  ebbs  on.  Sometimes,  as 
smoothly  it  flows,  one  thinks  of  the  beauties  and  peace  of 


"  MY  THOUGHTS  TURNED  TO  MY  OWN  LIFE,  AND  I  COLLECTED  MY  FIRST 
FRAGMENTS  OF  THIS  LITTLE  STORY  FOR  You,  DEAR  CHILDREN" 

life;  then  again,  of  the  turmoil,  as  the  river  rushes  in  mad 
frenzy  and  furiously  spends  its  force  in  the  greater  "Father 
of  Waters,"  ending  its  life  in  the  Gulf  of  Mexico.  It  was 
when  the  river  (the  Wisconsin  River  is  the  one  I  am  speak- 
ing of)  was  in  a  happy  mood  that  we  liked  it  the  best ;  when  we 
could  see  little  sparkling  bubbles  that  made  us  think  it  was 


MASTER   ST.  ELMO  81 

happy.  At  these  times  we  could  sit  and  dream  of  but  one 
side  of  life,  the  beautiful,  the  peaceful,  the  thankful,  most 
thankful  for  all  the  glorious  nature  our  Creator  had  bestowed 
upon  all  who  could  see  the  wonderful  and  appreciate  His 
master  hand  in  the  creation  of  so  magnificent  a  picture. 


"THE  LITTLE  CHILDREN-COWS  DID  NOT  KNOW  BUT  THAT  I  WAS 
THEIR  BROTHER" 

How  I  wish  all  tired-out  men,  women,  children,  animals, 
and  dogs  could  spend  a  month  each  year  in  such  a  place; 
but  if  they  cannot,  how  I  wish  they  could  see  as  much  of 
nature  as  possible,  and  really  learn  to  love  the  beautiful 
trees,  birds,  and  flowers,  and  everything  that  can  help  to 
make  the  hardest  walks  in  life  easier  for  the  weary  f^et. 

This  fascinating  place,  known  as  "The  Dells,"  is  where 
so  many  "honeymoons"  ai'e  spent,  as  I  hear  the  big  folks  tell 
about.  Now,  I  do  not  fully  understand  about  these  moons, 
but  folks  say  it  is  this  way.  A  beautiful  young  girl  (when 


82 


MASTER   ST.  ELMO 


she  is  rich  enough  she  is  a  "debutante,"  and  if  her  papa  be  so 
rich  that  he  builds  universities  and  libraries,  she  is  then  called 
an  "heiress"),  well,  she  gets  married  to  a  duke  (or  any  kind 
of  man  with  a  handle  to  his  name),  and  they  are  made  man 
and  wife  by  a  minister  dressed  in  a  long,  white  dress,  with  a 


HANDSOME  PRINCE,  LINCOLN  PARK  Zoo.  CHICAGO 

book  in  his  hand.  This  is  after  all  the  fuss  is  over  of  getting 
ready  for  a  splurge.  She  has  been  fitted  to  gowns  until  she 
has  no  shape  left.  She  has  attended  dinners,  teas,  balls,  the- 
aters, until  her  eyes  and  head  are  dazed;  she  has  had  hand- 
kerchief showers,  pillow  showers,  tin  showers,  and  china 
showers  until  she  has  the  real  tear  showers ;  then  bonnets, 
gloves,  and  every  imaginable  thing  that  can  be  bought  to  fill 
the  "Saratoga"  is  purchased  for  that  sweet  young  girl  to  spend 
weary  hours  in  donning  in  order  to  appear  charming,  when, 
if  she  but  knew  it,  she  would  look  much  more  bewitching  in 


MASTER   ST.  ELMO  83 

a  dainty,  white  dress  with  a  simple  flower-hat  upon  her  pretty 
head.  Well,  after  all  this,  comes  the  time  for  her  to  look 
her  best,  but  she  has  dark  circles  around  her  eyes,  and  is  a 
nervous  wreck.  So,  after  the  ceremony,  and  after  the  rice 
has  been  showered,  they  go  away  to  rest  up  and  get  ac- 
quainted, and  to  wonder  whether  it  is  worth  while  to  get  mar- 
ried. Of  course,  in  their  rush  to  the  carriage,  to  avoid  carry- 
ing away  pounds  of  rice,  and  not  to  appear  just  married, 
they  overlook  the  white  ribbons  and  old  shoes  tied  to  their 
carriage,  and  only  "come  to"  when  they  walk  into  their  state- 
room and  find  it  all  decorated  with  white  ribbons  and  orange- 
blossoms,  and  notice  that  all  the  people  in  the  car  have  a 
peculiar  smile  (not  in  the  least  interesting  to  the  bride  and 
groom) ;  then,  poor  girl,  when  she  takes  off  that  lovely  trav- 
eling hat,  the  porter  appears  just  in  time  to  scrape  up  enough 
rice  to  serve  for  dinner.  I  suppose  the  dining-car  managers 
wish  they  had  wedding  parties  every  hour  in  the  day;  it  is  a 
bonanza  for  them.  You  little  children  may  not  understand 
all  this  about  brides  any  more  than  I  do,  but  if  you  have  a 
big  sister  contemplating  marriage,  just  let  her  read  this,  in  a 
corner  by  herself,  and  then  she  will  know  what  to  do,  so  as  to 
be  smarter  than  her  friends.  You  see,  my  mistress  was  a 
bride  once,  and  I  feel  sure  she  doubly  appreciates  what  I 
have  told  her  here. 


CHAPTER  XVII 

We  left  this  enchanting  spot  and  returned  to  the  "con- 
trasty"  place,  Chicago, — but  don't  you  think  that  I  do  not 
like  Chicago,  for  I  still  think  her  the  greatest  city  in  the 
world.  Only,  coming  home  meant  to  me  formal  walks, 
dog-catchers,  muzzles,  and  lots  of  unpleasant  things  to  con- 
tend with.  As  soon  as  I  got  home  'Fritz"  ran  up  to  me, 
but  I  did  not  notice  him.  I  was  giving  him  a  lesson,  so  that 
he  would  be  more  polite  to  other  dogs.  I  meant  to  make 
up  with  him,  however,  as  soon  as  I  felt  sure  that  he  was 
sorry  and  that  he  understood  his  lesson. 

I  was  glad  to  see  "Jack."  He  lived  on  Prairie  Avenue, 
and  he  was  a  beautiful  cocker  spaniel.  His  real  name  was 
Master  John,  but  as  we  were  familiar  with  him  (that  is,  our 
family)  we  called  him  "Jack."  He  was  as  black  and  as 
glossy  as  the  prettiest  piece  of  black  satin  that  you  ever  saw. 
He  was  very  smart,  but  did  not  do  any  tricks,  as  his  parents 
did  not  believe  in  making  him  anything  but  natural.  He 
visited  me  a  week,  and  I  shared  my  meals  and  milk  with  him. 
I  used  to  laugh  at  him  when  he  drank  milk.  His  long  silky 
ears  would  drop  into  the  dish,  and  I  often  wished  that  I  could 
tie  them  up  with  red  ribbons,  and  I  guess  he  wished  so,  too, 
for  he  always  had  to  wash  his  ears  after  a  meal.  Jack  seems 
to  love  my  mistress  next  to  his  family,  and  he  nearly  goes 
wild  when  she  calls  on  him  now.  For,  even  after  months 
of  absence,  he  never  forgets  her,  and  makes  more  fuss  than 
I  do  when  she  has  been  away.  I  am  affectionate,  but  I  do 
not  show  my  feelings  very  much.  So,  sometimes  my  family 
say  that  St.  Elmo  is  kind  and  loving,  but  does  not  seem  to 
adore  them  as  some  dogs  do  their  families.  That  is  a  mis- 
take, however,  for  I  do  love  them  beyond  description,  only 

84 


MY  FRIEND  JACK 


MASTER   ST.  ELMO  87 

I  have  a  way  of  my  own  in  showing  my  feelings.  I  try  to 
be  manly  and  not  too  effeminate.  Jack  gave  me  a  nice 
bean-bag  for  Christmas,  and  we  correspond  when  we  are 
parted. 

Nothing  happened  worth  mentioning  that  winter,  so  I 
shall  continue  with  my  next  outing. 

First,  I  must  tell  you  what  happened  at  my  house  on  the 
first  day  of  May.  I  went  downstairs  as  usual  in  the  morn- 
ing after  breakfast  (I  am  not  an  early  riser),  and  I  found 
things  in  the  greatest  upheaval ;  everything  seemed  alive  and 
tumbling  over  each  other.  What  a  topsy-turvy  mess  things 
were  in,  and  what  on  earth  were  they  doing  ?  Had  every- 
body and  everything  gone  mad  in  the  night  ?  Even  the 
pictures  seemed  to  walk  right  off  the  walls.  My!  but  this 
was  a  puzzle  for  me,  and  it  was  made  worse  when  my 
master  came  down,  and  sizing  up  the  situation,  exclaimed, 
"What  in  the  world  will  you  do  with  all  this  truck  ?  It  will 
take  a  whole  storehouse  to  hold  this  rubbish.  I  guess  I'll 
go  to  my  office.  Good-by !"  I  wished  that  he  had  invited  me 
to  go  with  him,  for  there  was  no  place  to  go,  no  place  to 
sleep,  no  rugs  to  lie  down  on.  What  a  friendless  sort  of 
chap  one  is  when  moving-day  comes !  I  waited  at  the  dining- 
room  door  until  my  mistress  came  through;  then  my  eyes 
nearly  popped  out  of  my  head,  for  she  was  dressed  so  differ- 
ently from  anything  that  I  had  ever  seen  her  togged  up  in. 
I  was  sure  that  she  had  lost  her  senses,  for  she  had  a  towel 
tied  around  her  head,  like  a  Turk;  gloves,  with  the  tips  of 
the  fingers  cut  off;  and  she  was  talking  as  fast  as  she  could 
to  three  big  men.  I  suppose  she  was  bossing  them.  After 
things  had  cooled  down  a  little,  my  mistress  sat  down  on  a 
box  and  thought  a  while.  Then  she  said  to  my  mama,  "It 
may  be  that  they  will  not  take  St.  Elmo."  My !  did  your 
heart  ever  sink  way  down  into  the  toe  of  your  boot  ?  Mine 
did.  I  commenced  to  ponder.  Was  I  to  be  left  in  this 
desolate  house,  with  the  furniture  all  scrapping  and  appar- 


MASTER   ST.  ELMO 

ently  throwing  things  at  each  other  ?  I  never  felt  so  blue. 
Ask  your  little  dog  and  yourself,  and  above  all  your  papa, 
how  he  likes  house-cleaning  time,  or  especially  moving-day. 
My  master  returned  at  noon  and  took  away  my  mistress 
with  him,  so  that  settled  it  for  me.  I  was  simply  heart- 
broken. I  ran  upstairs  to  see  if  they  had  taken  "  mom." 
She  was  still  there,  packing  her  trunk.  I  was  thankful 
that  she  had  not  been  invited.  I  always  watch  at  the 
window  for  my  master  in  the  evening.  I  know  the  time 
that  he  gets  home;  I  just  feel  it,  and  the  family  often  wonder 
how  I  know  the  time.  The  time-piece  is  inside  of  me,  and 
tells  me  when  to  look  for  my  master,  just  as  the  thermom- 
eter in  my  stomach  tells  me  it  is  time  to  eat.  So,  at  the 
proper  moment  I  was  at  the  window,  when,  to  my  joy,  my 
two  owners  appeared.  (I  think  they  form  a  partnership,  too, 
just  as  "Nip"  and  "Tuck"  do.  My  mistress  attends  to 
the  social  end,  and  my  master  the  business  end.)  As  soon 
as  the  door  was  opened  I  sprang  to  them,  and  the  first  thing 
my  mistress  said,  was,  "Well,  St.  Elmo,  we  have  found  a 
place  for  you  where  they  will  take  DOGS."  Isn't  it  a  conde- 
scension to  take  us  to  board  ?  But  I  must  not  be  sarcastic, 
as  I  have  been  very  fortunate  about  having  good  landladies. 
So  we  boarded  for  a  year  after  that  upheaval. 

We  boarded  on  the  South  Side,  by  the  lake,  and  I  spent 
lots  of  time  in  the  water  and  in  visiting  Jackson  Park.  It 
was  here  that  we  found  some  poor  homeless  dogs.  People 
said  that  they  probably  had  been  taken  by  unprincipled 
men  and  boys  to  sell  for  vivisection  purposes,  and  that  they 
had  got  away  before  they  had  been  made  prisoners.  My  mis- 
tress is  very  much  opposed  to  the  practice  of  vivisection,  and 
she  helps  all  the  unfortunate  dogs  she  can.  So  I  brought 
home  one  day  to  the  boarding-house  a  stray  dog,  his  sides 
nearly  meeting  with  hunger.  My  mistress  gave  him  some 
warm  food,  also  a  bath,  and  after  keeping  him  a  week,  she 
found  a  good  home  for  him.  He  was  a  pretty  dog  after  he  had 


MASTER    ST.  ELMO 


89 


been  cleaned  and  had  fleshed  up  a  little.  He  now  resides  in 
Englewood.  We  named  him  Pinto.  Here  is  his  picture,  after 
a  week  of  kind  treatment.  How  he  loved  my  mistress !  He 


GRATEFUL  PINTO 

would  put  his  paw  into  her  hand  and  rest  his  head  on  her  knee, 
and  look  up  into  her  face  with  such  grateful  eyes,  that  even 
a  dog  would  cry  to  see  how  thankful  he  was  to  be  treated 
kindly.  This  was  the  second  dog  that  we  housed  that 
winter.  This  one  we  did  not  ask  the  police  to  find  a  home 
for,  as  we  did  not  wish  to  get  again  into  the  papers;  but  the 


90  MASTER   ST.  ELMO 

first  little  stray  fellow  I  brought  home  got  his  name  into  the 
paper.  It  was  a  joke  on  my  mistress,  but  it  found  him  a 
good  home.  I  will  let  you  read  what  the  "Daily  News"  wrote 
up.  Of  course,  you  know  he  did  not  play  "Ping-Pong."  This 
"write-up"  brought  many  persons  to  the  police  station  to  get 
him,  and  some  came  in  carriages.  My  mistress  also  got 
letters  asking  for  the  dog,  and  telephone  messages.  She 
replied  to  each  personally,  and  asked  that  the  interest 
might  be  taken  in  other  stray  dogs  and  cats  who  were  not 
so  famous. 


PING-PONG   DOG'S   FATE 

[From  the  "Daily  News,"  December  18,  1902.] 

Noisy  delight  in  the  game  of  ping-pong  has  caused  Tinto,  a  trick 
terrier  recently  adopted  by  Mrs.  William  F.  Senour,  to  languish  in  the 
Hyde  Park  police  station  until  another  kind  owner  shall  claim  him, 
and  meanwhile  Mrs.  Senour  is  regretting  the  fact  that  life  in  one  of  the 
most  fashionable  of  Hyde  Park  boarding-houses  precludes  the  possession 
of  a  dog  who  will  insist  on  speaking  his  mind. 

Tinto  was  adopted  by  Mrs.  Senour  several  days  ago.  Her  beautiful 
English  greyhound,  St.  Elmo,  who  has  as  kind  a  place  in  his  heart  for 
homeless  strays  as  she  has,  brought  the  handsome  little  waif  into  his 
mistress's  apartments  one  evening  about  supper-time,  and  showed  by 
every  action  that  Tinto  was  welcome  to  share  his  bed  and  board.  After 
supper  St.  Elmo  was  put  through  his  regular  drill  of  telling  his  age, 
counting  and  performing  sums  in  addition,  when  Tinto  was  noticed 
to  be  uneasy  With  a  sharp  little  bark,  he  ran  to  the  ping-pong  table, 
and,  jumping  upon  it,  seized  a  racket  in  his  teeth.  His  newly  found 
mistress  tossed  a  ball  across  the  net  to  him,  and,  meeting  it  full  with 
the  surface  of  the  bat,  he  returned  it  across  the  net.  The  joy  in  the  dis- 
covery of  a  new  trick  for  dogs  was  general  in  the  Senour  apartments, 
even  St.  Elmo,  who  is  usually  very  quiet,  entering  into  the  spirit  of  the 
thing.  In  the  heat  of  the  game,  however,  Tinto  would  bark,  and  that 
was  the  beginning  of  a  very  sad  story.  Tinto,  who  was  fond  of  looking 
at  the  lake  from  his  mistress's  window,  would  bark  his  delight  when  an 


MASTER   ST.  ELMO  91 

especially  large  breaker  would  dash  its  foamy  crest  high  over  the  break- 
water. 

The  end  of  the  matter  was  that  Tinto  had  to  be  banished  from  the 
society  of  the  select  and  exclusive,  and  his  mistress,  in  despair,  took  him 
to  the  Hyde  Park  police  station  in  the  hope  of  finding  a  good  home  for 
the  little  pet  to  which  she  had  become  so  much  attached.  The  first  time 
she  took  him  over,  Tinto  begged  so  hard  to  go  back  with  her  that  she 
yielded,  and  again  smuggled  him  into  the  forbidden  domains.  This 
morning,  however,  she  bade  him  a  final  adieu  and  left  him  with  his  pet 
base-ball,  which  entertained  him  when  not  playing  ping-pong,  together 
with  a  box  of  crackers,  and  intrusted  him  to  the  care  of  Sergeant  John 
Hogan. 

Tinto  was  suffering  from  a  ping-pong  ankle,  and  he  was  tenderly  re- 
ceived by  the  police  officers,  who  promised  to  do  all  in  their  power  to 
find  a  good  home  for  the  little  animal,  and  sent  out  a  message  in  the  hope 
of  finding  the  original  owner.  Tinto's  occupation  now  consists  of  play- 
ing base-ball  with  the  reserve  force  and  eating  the  supply  of  crackers  left 
by  his  mistress. 

"Tinto"  was  a  little  "dachshund,"  black  and  tan,  with 
very  short,  bowed  legs.  He  evidently  had  been  allowed  to 
stand  upon  his  feet  too  early  in  babyhood.  My  mistress 
did  take  him  to  the  station,  and  the  desk  sergeant  said  he 
would  find  a  good  home  for  him,  so  my  mistress  turned  to 
go,  when  she  heard  a  little  voice  say,  "Please  don't  leave 
me,"  and  looking  back  she  saw  "Tinto"  sitting  up  on  his 
haunches  and  looking  with  longing  eyes  at  his  new  mistress. 
She  of  course  could  not  leave  him  after  that,  so  she  brought 
him  back  home,  and  the  next  day  she  had  some  one  else  take 
him  to  the  station,  where  after  the  notice  in  the  paper  he 
found  his  rightful  owner.  Many  thanks  to  the  "police 
officers"  and  to  the  "Daily  News"  for  interesting  the  public 
in  homeless  animals. 


CHAPTER  XVIII 

The  next  May  we  went  to  a  beautiful  suburban  village, 
where  we  now  live.  I  like  it  the  best  of  all,  for  I  can  run  all 
day  without  a  muzzle  and  every  one  is  kind  to  me,  even  if 
I  do  run  into  their  houses  without  an  invitation  and  look 
all  over  their  dining-room  table  for  their  cream-pitchers. 

The  first  thing  my  mistress  did  was  to  take  me  to  the 
Town  Hall  and  register  me  a  two  dollars'  worth.  She  made 
me  tell  how  old  I  was,  which  was  six  years  old  last  Fourth  of 
July,  you  remember.  I  was  sent  a  bright  tag  stamped  No.  1, 
which  meant  that  I  was  the  first  dog  registered.  You  see  I 
am  a  citizen  of  the  village  now,  and  I  have  to  pay  two  dollars 
a  year  to  help  support  the  town,  wrhich  I  am  only  too  proud 
to  be  allowed  to  do.  When  I  was  boarding  here  the  year  be- 
fore I  was  an  honorary  member  of  the  village,  so  I  did  not 
pay  taxes  and  I  appreciate  the  courtesy  bestowed  upon  me. 

When  we  first  came  here,  we  boarded  with  such  a  good 
lady,  as  we  could  not  get  rooms  at  the  hotel,  it  being  filled. 
This  lady  took  us  as  a  favor  and  we  stayed  until  our  house 
was  ready.  She  let  me  sleep  on  a  nice,  soft  lounge  in  my 
master's  bed-chamber  and  gave  me  good  things  to  eat;  so  I 
dearly  love  her,  and  when  I  see  her,  I  jump  up  and  kiss  her  on 
the  cheek.  My  family  say  they  cannot  understand  why  I 
kiss  her  and  no  one  else,  but  I  will  tell  them  here :  it  is  because 
she  let  me  go  to  bed  in  the  evening  with  her  little  boy  Dex- 
ter, and  when  the  big  people  went  up  to  bed  they  found  us 
each  night  asleep  together;  each  one  had  a  pillow,  and  how 
I  did  enjoy  this.  I'll  tell  you  a  cute  thing  the  little  boy  used 
to  do.  When  he  was  sent  up  in  the  evening  to  study  his  lessons, 
he  would  say,  "May  St.  Elmo  go  up  to  my  room  while  I 
study?"  and  my  mistress  would  say  "Yes."  So  up  I 

92 


MASTER   ST.  ELMO  93 

would  start,  but  did  we  study  any  lessons  ?  Ask  this  boy 
friend  of  mine.  We  always  went  to  bed  tired,  so  you  can 
guess  we  had  a  romp.  He  was  very  good  to  me,  and  so  I 
am  always  glad  to  see  him.  I  was  pleased  when  I  found 
out  we  were  going  to  have  a  house  to  live  in,  for  I  like  an 
upstairs  to  a  house  since  I  have  learned  so  well  how  to  climb. 

The  first  day  I  entered  the  new  house,  I  was  a  little  dis- 
appointed, as  I  saw  nothing  but  bare  floors  and  walls;  but 
the  second  day  I  found  to  my  delight  the  same  old  boxes, 
barrels,  pictures,  furniture,  and  rugs,  and  this  time  they  all 
looked  peaceful  and  orderly.  My  mistress  was  beaming  with 
happiness  over  the  meeting  with  her  old  possessions,  making  a 
"  contrasty  "  picture  to  the  one  of  the  May  before  when  the 
hurly-burly  impressionistic  picture  was  painted,  never  to  be 
effaced  from  my  memory,  when  everything  was  on  the  war- 
path. ' '  Moving-day,  May,  1902, ' '  is  the  title  of  this  paint- 
ing. 

Our  house  is  just  a  little  distance  from  my  boy  friend's, 
but  I  never  am  allowed  to  go  there  alone,  as  the  "Choo- 
choo"  car  tracks  have  to  be  crossed  to  go  there,  and  the 
family  always  hold  my  collar  for  fear  that  I  shall  be  run  over. 
Imagine  a  big  dog  like  me  having  to  be  directed  where  to  go ! 
I  do  feel  so  silly,  especially  when  the  children,  or  other  dogs 
are  passing.  When  I  had  been  here  a  month,  I  cut  my  back 
on  a  barb-wire  fence  (such  a  fence  should  be  condemned), 
and  my  mistress  thought  I  had  been  bitten  by  a  dog;  so  she 
hurried  me  off  to  the  train ;  but  there  was  no  train  to  Chicago 
for  an  hour ;  then  we  went  to  the  street-car  line,  and  the  con- 
ductor said  that  dogs  could  not  ride  on  these  cars ;  after  a  few 
seconds  of  pleading,  however,  I  was  pushed  up  some  steps 
into  the  car.  My  mistress  paid  five  cents  for  me,  and  the 
man  pulled  a  bell  to  say  that  I  was  paid  for;  but  I  had  to  stay 
on  the  back  platform,  and  my  mistress  stayed  with  me,  for 
she  is  very  faithful  to  me.  We  then  got  on  the  elevated 
train,  and  I  rode  in  the  car,  sitting  on  a  seat  and  looking  out 


94  MASTER   ST.  ELMO 

of  the  window.  It  seemed  very  funny  to  be  whizzing  along  in 
the  air,  and  I  wished  that  Klondyke  could  have  this  experi- 
ence with  me.  I  did  not  feel  quite  certain  of  this  flying 
machine,  and  when  it  made  me  go  from  side  to  side,  I  had 
the  same  dizzy  feeling  that  I  had  when  I  took  my  first  ride 
on  that  IRON  HORSE.  My !  but  I  have  learned  lots  since  the 
first  day  that  I  left  Kansas,  and  I  do  wish  that  all  the  dogs  of 
that  windy  place  could  learn  as  much.  I  have  a  tender  spot 
in  my  heart  for  Kansas,  for  it  was  bright  and  sunny  there 
even  if  the  wind  did  blow  all  my  hair  off. 

Well,  I  got  into  Chicago  and  down  to  the  veterinary  sur- 
geon who  examined  me  one  dollar  and  a  half's  worth,  and 
said  it  was  no  bite,  only  a  cut  by  wire.  I  knew  how  I  got  it, 
but  my  stupid  mistress  could  not  understand  me.  She  was 
greatly  rejoiced,  and  telephoned  my  master  to  come  and 
meet  us  and  take  us  back  to  the  country.  I  forgot  to  tell  you 
that  I  had  two  severe  operations  at  different  times,  and  two 
tumors  removed  from  my  knee  by  this  splendid  surgeon, 
Doctor  White,  and  he  said  that  I  was  a  hero,  for  I  stayed  on 
the  operating-table,  and  they  did  not  have  to  tie  my  mouth. 
I  watched  his  performance  and  tried  to  think  it  did  not 
hurt,  as  I  felt  sure  he  was  doing  it  for  my  good,  so  I  was 
patient.  Let  me  tell  you  how  I  got  those  horrid  bumps. 
In  our  Calumet  house  was  a  window  bench  just  wide  enough 
for  me  to  lie  on,  and  such  a  splendid  place  to  see  all  that  was 
going  on  outside,  and  still  be  on  the  inside  away  from  the 
flies  (when  I  say  flies  I  shake  all  over).  The  family  had 
it  nicely  padded  when  I  came  to  live  with  them,  but  after 
my  constant  camping  on  it,  the  cushion  wore  thin,  so  that 
every  time  I  jumped  down  I  scraped  my  knees  and  soon 
made  a  lump;  then  again,  I  had  to  wear  a  harness  when  I 
was  going  on  a  trip,  and  when  I  would  lie  down  the  buckle 
came  where  my  knee  did,  so  that  also  helped  to  enlarge  this 
bump.  My  family  did  not  know  this  or  I  never  should  have 
suffered,  for  as  soon  as  they  found  out  what  caused  my 


MASTER   ST.  ELMO  95 

troubles,  they  had  a  new  window  cushion  for  me  and  the 
hard  buckle  changed,  but  not  until  I  had  cost  them  a 
"twenty-dollar  william"  for  operations.  My  harness  was 
made  where  they  made  harnesses  for  horses,  and  it  was  all 
right  at  first,  but  I  grew  so  fast  that  the  buckle  could  not  keep 
up  with  me,  so  we  became  a  misfit. 

There  are  some  very  nice  and  polite  dogs  out  here.  My 
very  particular  friend  is  * '  Captain, ' '  a  brown  setter.  We 
understand  each  other  and  have  great  sport.  My  nearest 
neighbor  is  a  brown  water-spaniel,  "Brownie,"  but  he  is  a 
little  particular  about  getting  acquainted  too  soon;  so  we 
just  speak.  I  think  he  is  a  wee  bit  jealous,  as  he  has  a  young 
master  and  mistress  who  are  very  dear  to  him,  and  he  does 
not  want  any  one  else  to  share  their  petting;  then  too, 
he  was  here  first,  and  ' '  possession  is  nine  points  in  the  law, ' ' 
so  I  have  only  one  point.  Well,  we  do  not  quarrel,  and  as 
my  family  and  "Brownie's"  family  agree,  of  course  we 
shall  some  day  be  friends.  I  shall,  however,  ask  him  to 
my  next  birthday  party,  but  I  hope  he  will  not  bring  me  a 
woolly-puzzle  dog.  ' '  Buster  Brown ' '  gave  me  a  pointer  on 
how  to  have  parties,  so  I  am  going  to  try  it  next  time,  only  I 
hope  my  presents  will  not  be  returned.  I  shall  be  "foxy"  and 
tell  my  friends  to  bring  me  things  to  eat;  so  that  they  can  be 
consumed  before  the  time  to  return  them  comes.  Let  me 
think !  I  should  like  best  of  all  a  bone,  for  that  is  what  I 
never  get,  as  my  family  say  that  bones  make  me  ill,  and  the 
doctor  also  said  I  could  not  have  them  as  my  digestive 
machinery  inside  was  too  delicate  to  grind  up  bones;  next 
would  come  English  walnuts,  next  cake,  then  candy,  then 
ice-cream — I  could  eat  about  a  quart  of  that,  sure.  Oh 
yes !  I  forgot  vaseline !  I  am  very  partial  to  that ;  it's  next 
to  butter,  which  I  think  comes  second  in  my  likes.  I  have 
a  good  many  toys.  This  Christmas  I  received  in  my  stock- 
ings a  rubber  humpty-dumpty  doll,  a  squeaky  ball,  a  bean 
bag  from  Aunt  Lillie,  a  new  blue  ribbon,  and  a  bath.  I 


96  MASTER   ST.  ELMO 

seem  to  get  baths  on  all  holidays,  so  that  didn't  count  as  a 
present.  When  I  first  came  out  here  I  could  not  find  my 
playthings  because  the  family  was  so  slow  in  unpacking  my 
things;  they  thought  mine  the  least  important,  but  I  con- 
sidered them  first;  so  I  had  to  play  with  sticks  until  one  day 
I  saw  some  nice  little  children  playing  near  our  house.  One 
of  the  children  had  something  in  her  hand,  and  as  I  was  very 
curious  to  see  what  it  was  (for  at  a  distance  it  looked  very 
much  like  my  old  woolly-dog,  after  the  battle),  I  walked  up  to 
the  wee  girl  and  took  it  out  of  her  hand  and  ran  home  as 
fast  as  I  could.  My!  how  she  did  yell;  that  was  a  funny 
thing  for  her  to  do,  don't  you  think  ?  When  I  got  home,  it 
was  a  poor,  forlorn  pussy-cat  looking  very  much  like  my  un- 
grateful puzzle-dog.  She  had  no  eyes,  and  only  one  ear, 
which  made  you  think  she  was  lopsided ;  her  nose  and  mouth 
had  united,  but  she  had  a  tail,  the  same  kind  of  tail  that  my 
poor  doggie  had.  I  was  very  careful  about  the  workman- 
ship of  her  interior,  so  I  handled  her  quite  carefully.  My 
mistress  tried  to  find  the  owner  of  pussy,  but  she  could  not, 
so  she  left  her  in  plain  sight  on  the  walk  for  some  days ;  but 
would  you  believe  that  nobody  would  own  her  ?  At  last  I 
took  pity  on  her  and  brought  her  into  the  house  and  she  is 
now  on  my  mistress's  desk  as  she  is  writing  at  my  dictation 
to-day.  I  love  her  best  of  all  my  playthings,  for  I  always  did 
love  the  poor  homeless  animals  the  best. 


CHAPTER  XIX 

I  have  enjoyed  calling  upon  some  cats,  the  ones  you  see 
in  the  basket;  two  of  them  were  never  agreeable  to  me,  but 
the  quiet  little  fellow  would  come  up  to  me  and  purr,  and  I 
would  stroke  his  soft  fur  with  my  nose.  The  one  standing 
up  was  so  very  impudent,  even  rude,  that  she  took  the  lib- 
erty one  day  to  scratch  me  on  my  nose,  so  after  that  I  never 
cared  for  her  society.  I  had  a  little  unpleasant  experience 
with  a  dog  when  I  was  at  the  hotel,  which  I  forgot  to  men- 
tion. There  was  a  black  and  white  cocker  spaniel  named 
"Dewey";  he  was  a  small  one,  but  very  aristocratic,  and  he 
boarded  with  his  family  at  the  hotel.  He  had  been  there 
so  long  that  he  considered  it  his  property  and  that  every  one 
around  belonged  to  him,  so  when  I  came,  as  he  thought  an 
usurper,  he  snarled  at  me,  and  said  in  a  very  important 
way,  '  *  Go  away  from  my  home,  you  can't  play  in  my  front 
yard,  I  am  boss  of  this  place." 

I  went  to  my  mistress  and  put  my  head  on  her  arm  and 
she  told  me  not  to  mind  the  little  dog,  that  he  would  soon 
get  acquainted,  and  be  more  affable:  he  did  not  do  as  we  had 
expected  but  took  every  occasion  to  remind  me  that  I  was 
intruding.  I  stood  this  for  some  days,  until  one  evening, 
when  lots  of  folks  were  out  on  the  lawn  and  I  was  passing 
him,  he  turned  and  spoke  unkind  words  to  me.  This  time 
I  was  not  in  the  best  of  humor,  so  I  turned  and  said  to  him 
"Boo!  Boo!"  He  was  very  much  surprised  because  he 
had  thought  me  timid,  but  after  that  he  grew  quite  polite, 
and  soon  found  the  way  to  our  rooms  when  he  wanted  a 
drink  of  milk  out  of  my  bowl,  or  some  of  my  dog  biscuits. 
He  is  a  neighbor  of  mine  now,  and  a  real  nice  little  sort  of 
chap,  so  I  shall  invite  him  to  my  party.  I  must  show  you  a 

97 


98  MASTER  ST.  ELMO 

picture  of  ' '  Quentin  Durward, ' '  for  he  is  a  particular  friend 
of  mine,  and  a  most  beautiful  collie.  His  nationality  is 
Scotch,  and  he  was  the  next  dog  after  '  *  Dewey ' '  that  I  knew 
out  here.  He  was  polite  to  me  from  the  introduction,  which 


'  1 4<  • :  '  . 

"  SHE  TOOK  THE  LIBERTY  ONE  DAY  TO  SCRATCH  ME  ON  MY  NOSE  " 

was  on  the  street.  He  took  me  to  his  house,  asked  me  up- 
stairs and  all  over,  had  his  "mama"  give  me  cookies  and 
milk,  and  was  very  kind.  We  went  out  to  play  in  his  large 
yard,  and  after  a  time  I  wanted  a  drink,  so  he  took  me  up  on 
a  neighbor's  porch  where  they  always  kept  water  for  their 
dog  and  showed  it  to  me,  then  he  stepped  aside,  and  I  took 
a  drink,  and  after  I  had  finished  he  took  his  drink.  This 
is  the  truth ;  he  is  very  polite  about  everything,  and  he  is  the 


MASTER   ST.  ELMO 


99 


prettiest  collie  that  I  ever  saw.  He  sleeps  at  his  master's 
bedside  and  goes  to  sleep  with  his  paw  in  his  master's  hand. 
Another  reason  why  I  enjoy  life  out  here  is  because  I  can 
ride  around  the  country,  and  I  like  that  much  better  than 
walking.  I  usually  have  a  seat  reserved  for  me,  and  if  I  am 
not  invited  I  feel  very  unhappy.  One  day  not  long  ago  some 
city  people  came  to  see  us  and  there  was  an  odd  number, 


QUENTIN    DURWARD 

so  I  had  to  stay  at  home.  I  just  stood  at  that  window  all 
the  time  that  they  were  gone,  watching  for  the  horse  to  come 
back,  and  when  it  did,  after  what  seemed  to  me  hours,  I  could 
hardly  wait  for  them  to  alight,  but  I  jumped  right  in  and 
occupied  the  whole  seat.  The  two  gentlemen  were  so 
amused  that  they  started  up  the  horse  and  took  me  to  the 
barn,  and  they  had  to  insist  upon  my  getting  out,  for  I  did 
want  a  longer  ride  so  badly.  You  see  when  my  family  go 
for  a  drive  there  is  always  a  seat  for  me,  as  we  are  just  four; 
but  when  we  have  company  and  take  a  three-seated  rig,  I 


100  MASTER   ST.  ELMO 

am  left  out,  and  what  is  strange  to  me,  no  one  ever  stays  home 
and  lets  me  go  in  his  place.  Now  I  am  speaking  of  myself 
again,  I  must  tell  you  how  I  became  the  proud  possessor  of 
my  name,  St.  Elmo.  There  is  a  beautiful  book  named  ' '  St. 
Elmo, ' '  written  by  a  charming  author,  Mrs.  Augusta  Evans 
Wilson,  whom  my  mistress  loves  and  admires  more  than  any 
other  author;  so  when  she  was  fourteen  years  old  she  reaa 
this  famous  book,  and  at  that  time  promised  herself  a  grey- 
hound, whom  she  would  call  * '  St.  Elmo, ' '  so  you  see  I  was 
named  years  before  I  came  into  this  wonderful  world.  If 
you  have  never  read  Mrs.  Wilson's  ' '  St.  Elmo, ' '  do  read  it 
as  soon  as  you  are  old  enough  to  appreciate  such  a  delight- 
ful, beautifully  written  book.  The  language  is  perfect,  and 
is  an  education  in  itself,  with  a  moral,  good  and  healthy, 
pure  and  beautiful.  It  is  my  mistress's  great  privilege  and 
pleasure  to  correspond  with  this  most  noted  author,  and  in 
one  of  the  letters  in  which  the  writer  speaks  of  me,  she  kindly 
says  "your  noble  St.  Elmo,"  and  "your  handsome  St. 
Elmo."  Now,  boys,  should  not  I  be  real  good  and  kind 
when  I  am  appreciated  by  one  who  is  so  renowned  and  be- 
loved as  Mrs.  Augusta  Evans  Wilson  ?  This  is  my  tribute 
to  this  kind  friend  who  bestowed  upon  me  the  beautiful  name 
of  "St.  Elmo." 


CHAPTER  XX 

Oh,  yes!  I  almost  forget  to  tell  you  a  joke  which  turned 
out  to  be  a  joke  on  the  other  fellow.  Well !  I  have  a  little 
bad  habit  of  getting  on  the  beds  when  the  family  is  not 
looking;  as  they  do  not  believe  in  whippings,  they  have  a 
hard  time  breaking  me  of  this  careless  habit.  My  master 
thought  one  day  he  would  scare  me  "plumb  through,"  so  that 
I  would  never  get  on  the  bed  again ;  he  found  me  asleep  there, 
and  next  to  me  my  mama's  Sunday  hat-box  (it  was  naughty, 
too,  to  be  on  the  bed  instead  of  on  the  closet  shelf  where  it 
belonged) ;  so  my  master  took  the  clock,  set  the  alarm  care- 
fully so  that  it  would  ring  exactly  at  6  p.  m.,  and  then  went 
back  to  bed  (for  he  had  been  playing  off  sick  all  that  day, 
but  he  could  not  stand  it  any  longer,  and  so  he  had  to  get 
into  mischief) ;  he  then  called  my  mistress  who  was  down- 
stairs and  they  both  sat  like  geese  upon  the  edge  of  their 
bed  waiting  for  the  frightful  shock  to  my  nerves.  I  was 
having  such  a  nice  sleep,  dreaming  of  the  country,  of  swim- 
ming, and  of  my  friends  ' '  Nip ' '  and  ' '  Tuck, ' '  when  with- 
out a  minute's  warning,  "ting-a-ling"  wrent  something  at  my 
ear,  and  I  immediately  guessed  it  was  in  that  Sunday  hat- 
box;  so  instead  of  jumping  for  my  life,  I  merely  stretched 
my  elastic  neck  (elastic  is  the  polite  name  for  rubber)  and 
peeped  into  the  box,  but  to  my  dismay  it  would  not  stop.  1 
then  looked  into  the  next  room  at  my  giggling  family  and 
saw  that  they  were  too  stupid  to  help  the  poor  clock  out  of 
its  sufferings,  so  I  peeped  in  again,  and  it  recognized  me  as 
a  friend  and  stopped  crying.  I  then  put  down  my  head 
and  was  in  dreamland  once  more,  leaving  my  disap- 
pointed family  to  conjure  up  in  their  mighty  brains  what 
scheme  to  try  next.  But  what  a  joke  on  my  family.  I 

101 


102  MASTER   ST.  ELMO 

know  they  felt  flat,  and  they  could  hardly  look  me  in  the 
eye  that  evening. 

I  had  to  go  to  the  dentist's  the  other  day  and  that  made 
me  good  for  a  while;  if  there  is  any  one  thing  I  dislike  more 
than  another  it  is  dentistry.  I  should  not  mind  it  so  much 
if  a  gentleman  in  a  clean,  white  linen  jacket,  who  seemed  to 
be  the  business  end  of  a  machine  which  buzzed  like  mad, 
did  not  put  it  into  my  mouth.  Whizz  !  I  never  knew  whether 
my  head  was  whirling  or  whether  the  world  was  twirling, 
whirling  around,  it  felt  like  a  "merry-go-round"  at  a  cir- 
cus. With  the  first  whirl  you  lose  your  breath  and  wonder 
where  you  will  join  it  again.  It  is  quite  fashionable  to  have 
your  teeth  filled  with  gold  and  diamonds,  so  of  course  we 
must  suffer  a  little  to  be  fashionable,  even  in  the  canine  four 
hundred.  My  teeth  are  not  filled,  however,  for  I  only  had 
mine  cleaned,  so  I  do  not  possess  any  gold  or  diamonds  in 
my  mouth. 

I  met  with  a  small  accident  last  Tuesday  just  as  part  of 
my  family  was  going  into  Chicago  for  a  luncheon.  I  stepped 
on  a  piece  of  something  sharp  and  cut  my  third  toe;  it  really 
did  hurt,  and  of  course  the  red  blood  dripped  all  over 
the  porch,  and  my  mistress  was  very  much  frightened.  I 
tried  to  show  her  that  I  was  sorry  to  keep  her  waiting,  when 
the  carriage  was  ready,  too,  but  she  would  dress  my  foot 
before  she  left,  and  she  told  "Tenie"  to  take  care  of  me, 
and  if  I  grew  worse  to  telephone  my  master  or  the  veterinary 
surgeon;  but  I  got  better,  and  I  think  when  my  mistress 
arrived  at  the  luncheon  in  the  city  she  never  thought  of  me 
again,  for  do  you  know  she  did  not  come  home  until  after 
dark,  and  poor  me  waiting  sick  in  bed  for  her.  When 
"folkses"  go  to  luncheons  and  teas  you  can  depend  upon 
their  getting  home  just  at  the  last  possible  hair-breadth 
chance.  My!  if  I  ate  from  one  o'clock  until  seven  at 
night  I  should  be  filled  up  for  years,  I'm  sure.  I  hear 
funny  remarks  sometimes  about  places  I  have  never  seen 


LOOK  AT  ME!     TOGGED  UP  LIKE  A  GIRL 


MASTER   ST.  ELMO 


105 


or  been   invited 
curiosity  is  the 


to.     One   place   that   always   arouses   my 
club ' ' ;  now,  I  hear  that  word  very  often, 
church,"  and  I  wonder  what 


it  seems  oftener  than  I  hear 
a  club  is.  Do  you  know, 
little  people  ?  Do  your 
mothers  go  to  a  club,  and 
do  they  ever  take  you  ?  I 
believe  children  do  go 
sometimes  now  so  the 
mothers  can  tog  their  little 
tots  up  and  show  them  off. 
Maybe  it  will  soon  be 
"Dog's  day,  "then  I  shall 
surely  be  invited;  my  fam- 
ily is  very  proud  of  showing 
me  off,  dressed  up  to  kill, 
with  ribbon  of  the  most 
delicate  blue  around  my 
neck  (my  neck  was  not 
made  for  a  ribbon  display 
rack),  and  I  always  get  it 
soiled,  and  I  wish  they 
would  not  make  me  look 
so  silly.  Look  at  me  in 
this  picture,  dressed  in  a 
lace  skirt  and  waist,  with  a 
blue  sash  around  my  waist, 
and  a  girl's  sunbonnet. 
Now,  that  might  do  for  the  cunning  ' '  Miss  Guess, ' '  but  to 
dress  a  boy  up  like  a  girl  is  a  shocking  shame,  and  I  think 
they  should  legislate  upon  this.  I  seem  to  be  the  subject 
for  posery  in  our  studio,  and  all  the  old  hats  and  old  clothing 
they  want  to  preserve  by  the  art  of  photography,  they  tie 
on  me,  and  I  am  obliged  to  support  these  fads.  Now,  this 
picture  of  me  in  a  silk  hat  I  do  not  object  to,  as  I  myself 


MYSELF  REALLY  CAN  SEE  THAT  I 
LOOK  QUITE  MANLY." 


106  MASTER   ST.  ELMO 

really  can  see  that  I  look  quite  manly,  and  if  you  can  see  the 
cigars  in  my  vest  pocket  you  will  discover  that  I  am  a 
smoker.  Of  course  I  would  not  smoke  one  for  anything, 
as  I  am  opposed  to  tobacco,  and  especially  to  the  smoke, 
but  the  effect  is  there.  They  tried  to  make  me  hold  a  pipe 
in  my  mouth,  but  this  I  positively  refused  to  do.  That  might 
be  all  right  for  tramp  dogs,  but  not  for  educated  ones. 


CHAPTER  XXI 

I  have  just  come  up  from  my  dinner,  so  I  will  continue 
my  dictating  to  my  mistress.  Do  you  know  that  I  am  fond 
of  milk,  and  in  particular,  of  cream  ?  There  seems  to  be  quite 
a  difference  in  milks  at  our  house.  We  have  brought  to  us 
every  morning  milk  in  large  bottles,  and  cream  in  small 
bottles.  When  I  say  cream,  my  throat  seems  to  thirst  right 
away,  and  I  smack  my  lips.  It  is  so  good.  They  can't  fool 
me  either,  for  sometimes  they  give  me  skimmed  milk.  We 
get  this  milk  in  another  way,  that  is,  a  milk-man  brings 
some  at  night  in  a  bucket  and  this  is  set  away.  In  the  morn- 
ing the  cream  is  taken  off  and  the  thin  milk  is  left  for  cooking 
and  for  me.  But  don't  you  think  for  a  moment  that  I  drink 
it,  for  I  graduated  from  skimmed  milk  many  days  ago,  and 
unless  I  see  it  poured  out  of  a  bottle  and  unless  it  is  rich  as 
my  family  use,  I  never  accept  any  milk.  Sometimes  the 
ladies  of  the  kitchen  try  to  fool  me,  but  the  joke  is  on  them, 
for  they  have  to  wash  just  one  more  dish,  as  I  never  wash  it 
up  for  them,  as  I  do  when  pure  cream  milk  is  given  me.  But 
what  I  do  like  to  get  is  real  cream  out  of  the  best  silver 
pitcher  which  is  put  on  the  table.  Now,  I  know  that  the 
best  goes  there,  so  I  often  watch  for  meal-time,  as  I  go  to  the 
table  just  as  the  family  are  about  to  leave  it,  and  it  works 
every  time,  for  they  haven't  the  heart  to  send  me  away  with- 
out a  little  cream  in  a  real  china  saucer.  I  am  not  allowed 
to  go  to  the  table,  as  my  family  think  it  is  not  the  place  for 
animals,  but  I  lie  down  between  the  dining-room  and  the 
library,  half  of  me  in  each  room ;  and  in  that  way  I  see  what 
is  served  for  them,  and  yet  I  am  only  part  way  in  the  dining- 
room.  I  do  not  eat  what  is  left  from  the  table  as  I  am  not 
a  vegetarian,  so  every  day  my  order  is  sent  to  the  meat- 

107 


108  MASTER   ST.  ELMO 

market,  and  I  have  fresh  meat  cooked  each  day.  I  live 
like  a  king,  so  I  should  not  complain.  When  1  go  away 
each  summer,  although  we  board  we  always  pay  for  my 
milk  and  meat,  and  one  year  we  had  to  buy  ice  to  keep  the 
milk  from  spoiling.  Milk  has  a  way,  you  know,  of  getting 
cross. 

The  way  little  children's  hair  is  cut  now-a-days  reminds 
me  of  something  funny  that  happened  when  we  were  at  Chan- 
nel Lake.  There  is  a  farm  near  this  place  for  boys  who  have 
no  parents  or  homes,  and  it  is  fathered  by  a  good  man  who 
was  once  a  minister.  The  boys  learn  farming  in  the  summer 
and  in  the  winter  they  learn  banking  and  business,  besides 
having  their  school  each  day.  This  place  is  called  ' '  Allendale 
Farm,"  being  named  for  the  founder,  who  tries  to  make 
good  men  out  of  these  poor,  unfortunate  boys.  They  earn 
small  wages  for  their  work,  and  help  provide  the  home  with 
vegetables  from  their  farm.  What  a  splendid  charity  this 
is.  When  the  boys  spend  all  their  money  they  have  to  go 
without  a  "hair  cut"  or  some  pleasure  until  they  earn  more, 
so  as  not  to  be  beggars.  As  we  understand  it,  the  idea  is  to 
carry  on  a  business  for  them  and  they  can  borrow  a  few 
cents,  and  then  promptly  pay  it  back,  as  soon  as  they  earn 
something.  Now  I  am  getting  at  the  part  that  interested 
me,  and  it  makes  me  laugh  real  hard.  This  good  father 
wanted  to  give  three  of  the  little  boys  a  day  on  the  lake,  as 
they  were  not  very  well;  so  he  brought  them  from  Antioch 
on  foot  to  the  lake  where  we  were.  After  he  had  taken  them 
for  a  boat-ride  he  brought  them  over  to  the  hotel  to  let  them 
look  around.  Of  course  you  know  that  a  man  at  a  summer  re- 
sort upon  a  week-day  is  a  great  curiosity,  and  is  much  sought 
after  by  the  ladies,  so  the  first  thing  that  the  unlucky  man 
knew,  he  was  surrounded  by  the  fair  sex,  asking  all  manner 
of  questions  as  to  his  business  at  the  lake.  They  examined 
the  boys  and  found  that  one  had  one  side  of  his  hair  short 
and  the  other  side  long.  Anything  out  of  the  ordinary,  as  you 


MASTER    ST.  ELMO  109 

know,  always  interests  the  ladies,  so  after  fishing  around  for 
the  gentleman  to  tell  them,  they  had  to  come  out  boldly  and 
ask  him.  He  said  that  the  little  chap  had  spent  all  his 
money  and  had  only  enough  to  pay  for  one-half  of  a  "  hair 
cut, ' '  and  so  would  have  to  wait  until  he  made  more  to  get 
the  other  side  cut.  Wasn't  that  funny  ?  He  did  not  have 
to  wait  long,  for  after  they  had  all  been  invited  in  to  dinner 
by  the  landlord,  the  gentleman  thought  he  would  cut  the 
other  side,  for  it  would  not  be  kind  to  make  the  child  a 
mark  of  ridicule,  which  was  very  noble  indeed  of  the  man, 
for  it  is  never  kind  to  ridicule  any  man,  woman,  or  child 
(only  animals).  But  this  father  of  the  home  did  not 
know  how  to  cut  the  boy's  hair,  as  he  had  only  a  man's 
scissors,  which  is  a  pocket  knife,  and  that  would  hardly 
do  a  nice  job;  so  seeing  my  mama  in  her  window,  and 
knowing  she  was  a  motherly  person,  he  quietly  asked  her 
if  she  would  lend  him  her  scissors,  which  she  did,  and 
had  the  little  fellow  come  into  her  room,  and  it  was  turned 
into  a  tonsorial  parlor  before  a  bat  could  blink  its  eye.  The 
boy  promised  to  pay  the  gentleman  for  his  hair  cutting  as 
soon  as  he  could.  I  think  these  boys  are  not  permitted  to 
take  pennies  as  they  are  taught  to  work  and  not  ask  for  help, 
so  it  was  a  strict  business  loan.  I  think  it  costs  five  pennies 
for  one-half  a  hair  cut.  The  boys  all  seemed  very  happy 
and  a  great  many  of  them  are  taken  care  of  at  this  farm. 
It  would  have  done  your  heart  good  to  see  them  eat,  that 
day.  I  peeked  in  at  the  window  several  times  as  I  was  in 
a  hurry  for  them  to  get  through  in  order  to  play  some  more 
with  me.  The  dining-room  windows  were  built  just  to 
accommodate  little  people,  so  I  could  see  in  and  watch 
others  eat.  It  is  a  pleasing  sight  when  one  is  not  hungry. 
Well !  when  the  ice-cream  was  brought  on,  you  should  have 
seen  the  little-half-hair-cut-chap's  eyes.  They  nearly  popped 
out  of  his  head.  He  raised  up  in  his  chair  and  looked 
around  to  see  if  the  ice-cream  was  coming  his  way.  I  rather 


110  MASTER   ST.  ELMO 

looked  that  way  myself,  for  ice-cream  is  one  of  my  favorites. 
He  got  some,  but  I  did  not.  I  just  got  a  whiff  of  it  once  in  a 
while  as  we  played.  But  he  was  happy  so  it  made  no  great 
difference  to  me  after  I  lost  sight  of  the  ice-cream,  for  fun 
comes  first  on  my  list. 

A  lady  told  my  master  the  other  day  that  I  looked  like 
and  was  marked  the  same  as  a  famous  English  greyhound, 
named  "Master  Ma  Graff";  that  he  had  won  many  prizes 
in  England.  She  said  he  was  tan-colored,  with  white  trim- 
mings just  like  me,  so  my  picture  was  sent  to  England.  If 
the  owner  of  "Master  Ma  Graff"  ever  reads  this  book  I 
ask  him  now  to  please  send  my  mistress  a  picture  of  his  dog. 
We  may  not  have  spelled  the  name  correctly,  so  please  un- 
derstand what  dog  we  are  asking  about,  and  oblige  St.  Elmo. 


CHAPTER  XXII 


I  had  another  joke  on  a  fellow  the  other  day.  I  was 
walking  along  minding  my  own  business,  when  suddenly 
there  appeared,  as  if  popping  out  of  the  ground,  the  queerest 
looking  four-footed  animal  that  I  had  ever  cast  my  busy 
eyes  upon.  He  stood 
about  six  feet  from  me 
(that  is  by  my  mis- 
tress's tape-line,  which 
stretches),  and  he  stood 
as  stiff  as  that  wooden 
Indian.  My  first 
thought  was  that  may- 
be he  was  a  cigar-sign 
too;  then  as  my  brain 
took  a  turn  I  recalled 
the  Indian  that  was 
alive,  so  I  thought  I 
would  take  no  chances, 

for    which    later   I    was  WILLIAM  GOATY 

quite  thankful.     I  saw 

this  stiff-legged  beast  wink  one  eye,  then  I  knew  he  was  very 
much  alive.  He  appeared  to  be  getting  ready  for  an  attack 
of  some  kind  and  I  figured  that  I  was  the  pleasant  subject 
of  his  ire,  as  by  this  time  he  seemed  to  mean  business,  for  he 
winked  the  other  eye,  and  then  both  eyes.  Presently  when 
we  had  admired  each  other  quite  long  enough,  and  as  long 
as  politeness  would  permit,  he  arose  upon  his  last  feet  to  a 
great  height,  and  shaking  his  two  hands,  and  tossing  his 
haughty  head,  with  one  snort  he  sprang  at  me;  but— 
something  from  within  me  gave  me  a  gentle  boost  at  the 

ill 


112 


MASTER    ST.  ELMO 


same  time,  which,  with  my  athletic  training,  landed  me  on 
the  spot  where  my  enemy  had  stood,  and  when  my  remain- 
ing senses  came  back  I  saw  the  uninvited  enemy  on  the  spot 
where  I  had  been  standing,  almost  glued  to  the  spot.  It 

was  the  funniest  sight  that  I  had  ever 
seen,  and  now  that  I  can  see  the  joke 
I  laugh.  Can  you  imagine  a  funnier 
sight  than  this  mad,  madder,  maddest 
Billy  Goat  not  finding  me  on  the  spot  ? 
He  aimed  all  right,  and  had  I  been 
glued  there  what  would  have  become 
of  me  is  for  you  to  tell.  Well !  Billy 
was  very  much  surprised,  and  I  im- 
agine a  little  disappointed  at  not  find- 
ing me.  He  smelt  the  ground,  and 
then  he  scented  the  air  (just  as  if  I  had 
been  foolish  enough  to  go  up  in  the 
air),  and  finally  he  snorted  so  long  that 
I  really  wondered  how  he  could  hold 
his  breath  all  that  time.  I  had  no 
breath  to  spare  as  it  was,  and  I  was 
resting  behind  a  bush  and  peeking  out 
at  him.  My !  I  was  never  more  tickled. 
He  no  doubt  thought  that  I  had  melted 
away,  for  he  kept  looking  for  the  grease- 
spot,  so  I  let  him  think  that  I  had 
melted.  It  is  not  always  wise  to  try  to 
change  another's  thoughts  to  one's  own. 

After  he  had  settled  the  matter  as  to  my  disappearance,  he 
shook  himself,  and  walked  away  to  find  a  pugilist  more  of 
his  style.  I  giggled  until  my  sides  ached.  My  mistress 
came  out  and  found  me  very  tired;  so  she  sat  down  and  ex- 
plained goatology  to  me.  She  said  that  his  name  was  Mr. 
William  Goaty  when  he  was  refined,  but  that  when  he  was 
a  pugilist  he  was  only  Billy  Goat,  and  that  when  you  saw 
that  his  name  looked  "Billy  Goat"  to  run!  run!  run! 


WHEN  YOU  SEE  THAT 
HIS  NAME  LOOKS 
"  BILLY  GOAT,"  RUN! 
RUN!  RUN! 


CHAPTER  XXIII 

My !  I'm  laughing  yet !  What  a  funny  little,  old,  dried- 
up  fellow  a  monkey  is.  But  a  monkey  does  not  look  the 
same  to  my  mistress  I  know,  for  she  held  one  in  her  lap  the 
other  evening,  and  she  was  all  togged  up  in  a  clean  white 
dress.  She  made  him  climb  the  banister  for  a  penny,  and 
he  took  it  in  his  shapely,  left  hand  and  with  his  right  hand 
he  took  off  his  little  red  cap  to  my  mistress  and  mumbled 
some  Italian  to  me,  which  I  could  not  understand.  Well, 
that  monkey  could  do  everything.  He  took  the  prize  away 
from  "Dan,"  in  waltzing,  for  his  tail  being  longer,  he  made 
more  of  a  sweep  in  turning  around.  Then  he  had  on  a  pair 
of  green  baggy  pantaloons  that  looked  as  though  they  be- 
longed to  his  big  brother,  and  on  his  tiny  body  he  wore  a  red 
jacket  trimmed  in  yellow,  and  a  red  cap  with  a  blue  border 
and  a  tiny  black  feather,  signifying  that  he  had  "a  feather 
in  his  cap,"  for  his  ability  to  perform. 

While  his  master  played  the  hand-organ  he  danced, 
shook  hands,  climbed  trees,  turned  summersaults,  and  ate 
peanuts.  He  did  have  a  wonderful  amount  of  talent.  My 
mistress  told  the  man  that  the  monkey  was  tired,  so  he  let 
him  rest,  and  we  gave  him  a  drink  of  water,  for  which  the 
monkey  thanked  my  mistress  by  taking  off  his  cap,  show- 
ing little  boys  and  girls  how  to  thank  people  for  kindnesses 
shown  to  them.  I  was  afraid  my  mistress  was  going  to  buy 
him,  for  she  did  not  want  the  man  to  take  him  away.  She 
has  always  said  that  she  was  going  to  have  a  lion  and  a 
monkey,  and  I  heard  my  master  say,  '  *  When  your  lion  and 
your  monkey  come,  I  will  go, ' '  and  I  am  afraid  that  I  shall 
go  with  him.  I  wonder  whether  he  said  that  when  my  mis- 
tress bought  me  ? 

113 


114  MASTER   ST.  ELMO 

My  mistress  read  a  good  article  in  the  paper  on  the 
"Town  Barn  instead  of  the  Hitching-post  for  Horses,"  that 
the  kind  women  of  Momence,  Illinois,  had  completed  such  a 
barn  by  the  assistance  of  the  farmers'  wives  and  daughter?, 
and  that  the  horses  no  longer  will  have  to  stand  in  the  sun, 
and  in  the  cold  of  the  winters  out  of  doors,  as  this  large  barn 
will  accommodate  all.  I  hope  other  places  will  follow  suit, 
as  this  is  a  most  humane  act.  Another  thing  that  cities 
should  have  is  a  sufficient  number  of  watering  places 
along  the  streets  for  both  animals  and  men.  I  noticed 
while  in  St.  Louis  that  many  large  stone-bottom  wrater- 
ing-basins  were  about  the  city  and  they  looked  as  clean 
and  as  nice  as  the  fountains  and  basins  for  gold-fish,  and 
some  were  in  the  middle  of  the  square.  We  have  one  at  the 
entrance  of  Grand  Boulevard  in  Chicago,  but  it  is  too  high 
for  dogs.  We  have  often  seen  poor,  stray  little  dogs  try  to 
reach  up  for  water,  so  I  hope  that  when  other  places  for 
watering  horses  are  being  planned,  they  will  be  low  enough 
for  dogs  and  cats  also ;  then  when  all  lost  or  stray  dogs  can 
get  water,  we  shall  not  have  mad  dogs.  You  knowr  how 
dreadful  it  is  to  be  thirsty,  and  with  the  animals  it  is  more 
pitiful. 

The  birds  need  water  in  the  summer  more  than  they  do 
in  the  winter,  for  then  they  can  drink  the  melted  snow.  I 
wish  that  ladies  would  not  wear  the  pretty  birds  upon  their 
hats  for  show.  It  does  seem  wicked  to  kill  the  birds,  or  to 
kill  anything  just  to  beautify  ourselves.  Do  not  let  any- 
body kill  the  birds  about  your  town,  for  we  need  them  all 
to  help  brighten  the  world.  Remember  that  they  sing 
for  us  songs  of  the  happiness,  the  joy,  and  the  bountiful 
goodness  in  all  things  bestowed  upon  us  by  our  loving  Crea- 
tor, and  that  He  made  all  that  is  beautiful  in  this  world  to 
make  us  better,  so  that  we  must  see  the  good  in  this  life  and 
not  look  for  the  bad,  helping  every  one  and  everything  that 
is  in  trouble.  We  keep  a  pan  filled  with  clean  water  on 


MASTER   ST.  ELMO  115 

our  lawn  for  the  birds  and  animals,  and  we  put  bread-crumbs 
out  each  day.  It  is  a  pleasure  to  see  the  birds  enjoy  the 
crumbs;  the  blue-birds,  the  robin  redbreasts,  the  blue-jays, 
and  other  pretty  birds,  also  the  disliked  little  sparrow  (but 
we  like  them,  too),  all  feasting  together  at  one  board.  Some- 
times we  have  quarrels  to  settle,  but  as  a  rule  our  large  fam- 
ily agrees.  My  master  says  he  is  going  to  put  up  a  sign  in 
our  yard  for  the  birds  to  read,  saying,  '  No  fighting  al- 
lowed on  these  premises." 


CHAPTER  XXIV 

Oh  dear!     I  am  so  extremely  happy  to-day.     What  do 
you  think  ?     I  have  found  a  real  cousin,  and  I  have  just  re- 


MY  REAL  COUSIN  "  DAN 


ceived  his  picture.  He  is  very  handsome  as  you  can  see, 
and  very  aristocratic  looking.  His  society  name  is  Master 
Daniel  Gratiot,  and  he  hails  from  St.  Louis.  He  belongs 
to  one  of  the  oldest  French  families  of  that  splendid  city. 

116 


MASTER   ST.  ELMO  117 

Of  course  he  has  a  long  pedigree,  so  I  am  very  proud  to  be- 
long to  him.  I'll  tell  you  how  we  are  connected.  Daniel's 
masters  and  mistresses  are  cousins  of  my  mistress,  so  you 
see  that  I  am  a  direct  cousin  to  Daniel.  Now  that  I  know 
him  I  shall  call  him  by  his  familiarized  name.  I  can  spell 
this  word,  but  I  declare  I  cannot  pronounce  it,  for  my  tongue 
gets  tangled  up.  Let  me  hear  you  say  it;  I  shall  listen- 
Now  ' '  Dan ' '  should  be  very  smart  for  he  has  nine  in  his 
family  to  teach  him  smartness.  There  is  quite  a  partner- 
ship, he  being  divided  into  nine  parts,  while  I  am  in  only  a 
three-party  partnership,  and  most  of  the  time  a  one  part 
partnership  affair.  My  mistress  is  going  to  St.  Louis  to 
see  "Dan"  and  the  "World's  Fair,"  so  when  she  returns 
you  will  hear  more  about  this  cousin  of  mine,  and  some  in- 
teresting facts  about  this  great  "Fair."  How  I  wish  I 
might  go,  but  I  have  not  been  invited.  I  shall  hope  that 
they  may  need  me  at  the  "Fair"  and  that  my  mistress  will 
send  for  me.  This  is  May  15,  1904.  I  will  close  with  this 
thought  of  the  dog  in  general:  Did  you  ever  notice  that 
dogs  turn  around  several  times  before  they  lie  down,  and 
that  they  always  mat  down  their  beds  ?  Their  ancestors  in 
the  wilds  and  jungles  were  obliged  to  walk  around  their 
beds  and  places  to  sleep,  as  the  tall  grass  and  shrub- 
bery made  it  hard  to  get  a  soft  place  to  rest,  so  this  habit 
has  been  handed  down  and  is  a  dog's  own  legacy.  My  mis- 
tress says  that  "the  same  traits  that  human  beings  have 
are  handed  down  from  generation  to  generation,  and  if  we 
could  only  inherit  all  the  good  traits  of  our  ancestors  and 
leave  all  the  bad  ones  undeveloped  what  fine  specimens  of 
men  and  women  we  should  make,  and  what  goodness  we 
should  possess. ' ' 


CHAPTER  XXV 

Hello !  Hello !  boys  and  girls !  I  am  home  again  from 
the  wonderful  * '  St.  Louis  World's  Fair, ' '  and,  indeed,  it  is 
wonderful.  I  shall  do  my  best  to  describe  a  little  of  this 
great  exhibition ;  but  to  give  you  an  exact  description  of  its 
beauties  and  its  art  I  must  ask  you  to  visit  it  yourselves  as 
I  did,  for  it  is  certainly  beyond  all  pen  and  paper  to  picture 
this  beautiful  landscape. 

After  my  mistress  and  my  mama  had  left  for  St.  Louis 
I  felt  very  lonely  all  day,  although  our  faithful  "Tenie" 
came  over  every  noon  and  took  me  out  for  a  walk  and  played 
with  me.  She  was  very  kind  and  seemed  to  feel  sorry  that 
I  had  been  left  at  home.  My  master  got  home  from  busi- 
ness at  six  o'clock  each  evening  and  cooked  my  supper  for 
me  on  a  gas-stove  and  took  me  for  a  walk,  so  that  part  of  the 
day  was  happier.  The  good  meat-market  man  and  the 
good  milk-man  did  not  forget  me,  for  each  day  they  brought 
meat  and  milk  to  keep  me  alive  while  my  unkind  family 
was  ' '  doing  the  Fair. ' '  My  master  was  a  long  time  cooking 
my  meat  at  night,  but  I  tried  to  be  patient,  for  I  felt  sure  that 
this  was  his  first  place  as  cook  in  a  family;  he  seemed  to  be 
so  very  slow  and  awkward.  He  told  some  friends  last  night 
that  he  was  not  homesick  until  I  went  away,  for  then  there 
was  no  one  to  talk  to  nor  greet  him  at  the  door;  so  you  see 
a  dog  is  rather  necessary  in  a  family  sometimes.  How  I 
laughed  inside  when  a  little  fat  messenger  boy  came  puffing 
up  to  our  door  that  Saturday  evening  with  a  telegram  from 
St.  Louis,  which  read,  "Permit  granted;  if  he  can  safely 
come,  send  Sunday  morning,  Caro."  That  "he"  was  "me," 
and  I  was  just  as  tickled  as  that  dog  with  two  tails  was. 
So,  on  Sunday  morning  off  I  started  on  the  "Choo-choo" 

118 


CT  WM.  H.  THOMPSON    Ttt>J*rtFF  WALTER  B.  STEVENS.  SC< 

WORLD'S    FAIR,    ST    LOUIS 

1904 

LOUISIANA    PURCHASE    EXPOSITION 

-v        DIVISION  OF  CONCESSIONS   AND  ADMISSIONS 


NORRIS  B.  GREGG, 


May  28,  1904. 


To  the  Gate  Keepers: - 

St.  Elmo, 
This  will  be  your  authority  to  admit  the  do^which  will  accompany 

Mrs.  Caro  Smith-Senour,  the  bearer  of  this  permit.  It  will  be  presented 
on  Monday,  Kay  30th,  for  which  date  only  it  will  be  good. 


Director  of  Concessions  and  Admissions. 


St.  Louis  and  Suburban  Railway  System. 


To  Conductors  • 

Permit  the  bearer  to  transport  ^^Y dog        on  Front  Platform  of  Cars  until 

190  4?~ 

,  *&'//*' 

> * £/ 


Issued  to 
Address 


A 


120  MASTER   ST.  ELMO 

cars,  two  hundred  and  seventy-six  miles,  to  meet  my  mis- 
tress and  view  the  "World's  Fair."  My  mistress  and  dear 
cousin  "Bert"  met  me  at  the  train.  They  had  a  special 
permit  to  go  out  to  the  train  through  the  large  gates  so  as 
to  take  me  from  the  baggage-car,  where  I  had  spent  a 
most  delightful  day  watching  the  telegraph  poles  fly  by  and 
gazing  out  upon  lovely  pastures  with  cows,  horses,  pigs, 
and  all  sorts  of  four-footed  animals  enjoying  themselves, 
eating  nothing  but  grass.  I  was  thankful  that  I  was  not 
forced  to  eat  greens.  At  first  I  thought  that  everything 
and  everybody  was  hustling  along  at  a  great  rate,  but  later, 
when  I  was  jerked  from  side  to  side,  I  decided  that  it  was 
the  big  IRON  HORSE  once  more  taking  me  away.  I  was 
very  glad  to  see  my  mistress  and  made  up  my  mind  to  watch 
her  very  closely.  We  stepped  on  a  street-car  and  my  mis- 
tress took  out  a  piece  of  paper  and  showed  it  to  the  little 
big  man  with  brass  buttons  on,  who  was  boss  of  the  car. 
After  he  read  the  paper  he  smiled  on  me  and  said,  "Very 
well. ' '  Now  maybe  you  know  why  he  said  it  since  you  have 
read,  on  the  preceding  page  my  permit  to  ride  on  the  street- 
cars. Well !  the  kind  man  on  the  front  platform,  who  was 
always  turning  a  crank,  gave  us  his  chair  to  sit  on,  so  we 
turned  it  over  on  its  side  and  made  out  of  one  seat,  three 
seats;  in  consequence,  our  cousin,  my  mistress,  and  I  had  a 
front  seat  all  the  way  out  to  the  place  where  we  were  going, 
while  all  the  other  poor  passengers  had  to  sit  inside  the 
car  and  did  not  have  half  so  nice  a  view;  but  then  we  had 
a  pass  you  know.  I  thought  the  IRON  HORSE  was  the 
swiftest  flying  machine  in  the  world,  but  I  struck  one  faster 
in  the  way  of  the  "St.  Louis  and  Suburban  Railway 
System"  cars.  They  are  the  busiest  cars  my  family  ever 
traveled  on,  but  they  are  all  right,  I  think.  After  a  ride 
of  about  five  miles,  we  reached  our  destination  and  we  were 
welcomed  warmly  by  the  large  family  of  cousins,  that  is,  all 
but  cousin  *  *  Dan. ' '  He  seemed  a  little  cross  at  first,  especially 


MASTER   ST.  ELMO  121 

when  his  family  made  any  fuss  over  me.  I  tried  to  keep 
away  from  them  so  as  not  to  hurt  his  soft  feelings,  but  he 
talked  a  good  deal  behind  my  back,  and  did  not  love  his 
cousin  St.  Elmo  as  we  had  hoped  that  he  would.  Of  course 
I  did  place  his  little  nose  out  of  joint,  for  his  family  wanted 
to  make  me  welcome,  which  they  all  did,  and  they  gave  me 
fresh  milk  from  their  pretty  cow  and  did  all  that  they  could 
to  make  me  feel  at  home;  so  I  shall  remember  them  all  with 
the  greatest  of  pleasure.  Even  dear  cousin  "Dan"  com- 
menced to  show  that  he  would  have  liked  me  had  I  remained 
longer.  Poor  little  ' '  Dan !  "  he  had  received  a  severe  cut 
upon  his  right  shoulder-blade  from  a  barbed-wire  fence  or 
something  sharp,  and  he  had  to  be  bandaged  up,  so  he  had 
reason  for  not  feeling  amiable  towards  a  big,  strong  fellow 
like  me;  then  again,  he  might  have  felt  a  little  ashamed  to 
be  dressed  up  in  rags  before  his  Chicago  cousin.  I  know  I 
often  feel  that  way  when  I  am  togged  up.  My  mistress 
loves  "Danny"  (that  is  her  pet  name  for  him;  she  always 
has  to  have  a  pet  name  for  everything),  and  he  seemed  to 
like  the  name,  for  he  really  took  possession  of  my  mistress 
and  went  everywhere  on  the  place  with  her.  He  liked  to  get 
up  in  her  lap,  too,  and  go  to  sleep.  I  envied  him,  for  I  am  so 
big  that  only  half  of  me  can  get  on  her  lap  at  a  time;  so  by 
the  time  that  a  half  gets  to  sleep  the  half  that  is  on  the  floor 
left  over  is  awake.  That  is  why  I  often  envy  small  dogs. 
"Dan"  had  many  smart  tricks,  and  his  waltzing  around  on 
his  hind  feet  was  marvelous  to  me.  He  steps  around  just  as 
a  person  does  in  dancing.  He  was  more  willing  to  perform 
than  I  was,  for  every  time  that  I  started  to  do  my  tricks  for 
the  cousins  and  would  start  to  count  three,  "Dan"  would 
chip  in  and  I  would  stop;  so  we  had  a  hard  time  trying  to 
see  which  one  was  the  most  talented.  However,  I  "take 
off  my  hat  to  'Dan,'  "  for  he  can  spin  around  like  a  top  in 
his  waltzing,  which  I  should  never  be  able  to  do,  for  I 
should  knock  down  all  the  bric-a-brac  and  lamps  in  the 


122  MASTER   ST.  ELMO 

room.     I  should  certainly  need  an  acre  lot  to  do  my  waltz- 
ing in. 

I  found  another  cousin,  "Billy  Beck,"  who  had  not  been 
spoken  of  before  by  my  mistress.  She  was  given  to  the 
family  five  years  ago  by  the  groceryman;  so  they  named  her 
after  him.  She  was  a  cute  little  kitten  then,  and  the  name 
just  suited  her.  She  still  retains  the  name,  and  is  as  inde- 
pendent a  cat  as  can  be,  and  one  that  any  dog  might  dread 
to  encounter.  She  must  have  been  very  pretty  in  her  early 
youth,  but  since  the  wars  have  been  raging  "Billy  Beck"  has 
lost  a  part  of  one  ear  and  the  end  of  her  tail ;  so  she  is  a  little 
lop-sided,  you  see.  She  is  black  as  tar,  and  her  only  trick 
besides  eating  is  to  lie  down  and  roll  over  when  she  is  asked 
to  do  so.  She  usually  does  this  with  a  squeak,  for  her  voice  is 
a  worn-out  soprano;  still,  we  are  delighted  to  own  her  as 
our  cousin.  She  seemed  to  have  the  ways  of  all  cats,  for  as 
soon  as  she  would  see  me  politely  trying  to  talk  with  her, 
she  would  saucily  frizz  up  her  hair  and  spit  at  me  three 
times.  I  found  out  that  even  "Billy  Beck"  could  count 
three. 


CHAPTER  XXVI 

After  I  had  been  inspected  by  all  the  relatives  on  that 
Sunday  evening,  I  was  sent  to  bed,  and  the  next  morning, 
upon  my  calling  at  the  dining-room  door  for  my  breakfast, 
I  learned  that  I  was  to  attend  the  "World's  Fair"  on  that 
very  day,  Monday,  and  that  I  was  to  be  very  obedient,  and 
that  I  should  not  be  rude  and  poke  my  nose  where  I  was  not 
wanted  (just  as  if  dogs  ever  go  where  they  are  not  wanted). 
So,  after  a  good  breakfast,  my  mistress  put  on  my  collar 
with  a  pretty  assortment  of  colors,  blue,  red,  white,  and 
yellow  ribbons,  and  I  felt  very  proud,  as  these  are  the 
"World's  Fair"  colors,  also  reminding  me  of  our  country's 
colors,  without  the  yellow.  We  walked  two  blocks  to  the 
entrance  of  the  gate,  and  my  mistress  handed  the  keeper  a 
slip  of  paper,  which  he  read  and  politely  smiled  on  me,  for 
that  was  my  special  pass  into  the  grounds.  Now  came  a 
little  difficulty.  I  had  a  pass,  so  I  had  to  enter  at  a  special 
turn-gate,  and  as  my  mistress  was  just  an  ordinary  guest, 
she  had  to  go  in  the  general  gate  with  my  dear  cousin 
"Bert,"  who  was  our  escort.  But  the  difficulty  was  soon 
overcome  by  one  of  those  small  urchins  who  is  always  ready 
to  "carry  your  grip,  sir,"  so,  he  wisely  took  hold  of  my 
chain  and  the  gate-keeper  passed  me,  not  through,  but  under 
the  turn-gate^  as  I  was  too  long  for  the  space  between  the 
gate-arms,  and  too  tall  to  stand  up  and  walk  through, 
poor  me  had  to  get  down  and  crawl  under,  not  a,very  digni- 
fied way  for  a  distinguished  personage  to  enter  so  great  a 
place.  However,  upon  my  return  from  the  inspection  of 
the  grounds  and  the  buildings,  I  was  passed  out  through  a 
private  door,  for,  you  see,  the  gate-keepers  had  all  those 
six  hours  that  I  was  inside  to  study  out  a  way  to  make  it 

123 


124  MASTER   ST.  ELMO 

more  comfortable  and  dignified  for  me  to  pass  out,  and  I 
really  did  appreciate  their  kindness.  Another  thing  which 
we  both  liked  was  the  polite  treatment  of  the  guards,  who 
raised  their  hats  to  us,  and  sometimes  patted  me,  for  you 
know  they  all  had  been  prepared  as  to  my  visit  to  the  Fair, 
and  smiled  at  the  thought  of  a  dog  having  a  pass  to  view 
this  great  exposition.  Another  pleasing  attention  showed 
me  was  by  the  beautiful  "Cascade"  and  fountains,  whicli 
started  to  play  just  as  soon  as  I  arrived  in  front  of  them.  I 
noticed  all  these  marked  attentions,  and  I  feel  sure  that  my 
fellow-comrades  will  rejoice  with  me  that  one  of  their  na- 
tionality has  been  so  honored. 

My  mistress  wrote  the  following  chapter  for  my  book, 
so  I  shall  relate  it  as  per  her  manuscript  upon  the  great 
"World's  Fair"  in  St.  Louis  in  1904. 


CHAPTER  XXVII 

"THE  LOUISIANA  PURCHASE  EXPOSITION" 
The  "World's  Fair"  in  St.  Louis,  1904. 

[The  beautiful  "World's  Fair"  pictures  were  presented  to  the  author, 
and  are  used  by  the  kind  permission  of  the  "Publicity  Department"  of 
the  great  "Louisiana  Purchase  Exposition"  in  St.  Louis  of  1904.] 

Through  the  courtesy  of  Hon.  David  R.  Francis,  the  president 
of  this  great  Exposition,  and  Mr.  J.  C.  Thompson,  Jr.,  private  secre- 
tary to  the  president,  also  the  "Louisiana  Purchase  Exposition  Com- 
pany," I  have  been  granted  permission  to  present  to  the  children  from 
a  page  in  my  book  entitled  "Master  St.  Elmo,"  a  fac-simile  of  the  seal 
of  the  greatest  of  all  expositions  in  the  world.  I  consider  this  a  great 
privilege,  as  this  courtesy  has  never  been  extended  to  any  one  else,  and 
I  trust  that  all  the  children  will  appreciate  with  me  this  favor,  and  read 
up  and  study  all  about  the  "Louisiana  Purchase,"  so  when  they  visit 
the  beautiful  "World's  Fair"  in  St.  Louis,  and  gaze  with  admiring  eyes 
upon  the  imposing  monument,  100  feet  high,  with  the  crowning  statue 
of  "Peace"  resting  so  gracefully  against  the  blue  sky,  they  will  under- 
stand and  feel  the  importance  of  this  magnificent  and  gigantic  undertak- 
ing, and  the  gathering  together  of  people  from  all  over  the  world. 

This  seal  has  upon  it  the  head  of  President  Thomas  Jefferson,  also 
a  fac-simile  of  his  signature,  and  as  he  was  the  President  of  our  Coun- 
try at  the  time  that  the  famous  "Louisiana  Purchase"  was  made,  it  is 
a  very  appropriate  seal,  and  I  trust  that  each  of  my  readers  will  under- 
stand why  we,  of  all  states  in  our  Union,  are  so  earnestly  trying  to 
make  this  great  "World's  Fair"  one  of  the  noblest  events  in  the  annals 

of  the  United  States  of  America. 

CARO  SMITH-OENOUR. 

The  fascinating  place  around  and  in  front  of  the  "Cas- 
cades" is  the  most  beautiful  spot  that  I  have  ever  seen.  The 
water  starts  from  a  basin  in  the  center  of  the  magnificent 

127 


128 


MASTER   ST.  ELMO 


"Festival  Hall,"  and  flows  down  wide  steps  with  green  glass 
across  the  front  of  each  step,  under  which  electric  lights 
shine,  so  that  at  night  the  water  looks  as  if  it  were  falling 

over  steps  of  beau- 
tiful green  moss. 
The  water  falls  into 
the  "Grand  Basin," 
which  is  the  largest 
lagoon  in  the 
"World's  Fair 
Grounds."  It  was 
indeed  a  beautiful 
picture,  with  foun- 
tains sending  up 
bubbles,  and  the 
wonderfully  lighted 
"Electricity  Build- 
ing" reflecting  its 
hundreds  of  electric 
lights  into  the 
depths  of  the  artis- 
tic lagoon,  with  the 
red-sashed  "gondo- 
liers" plying  the 
oars  of  their  "gon- 
dolas," keeping 
time  to  the  elegant 
music,  and  the  little 
boats,  in  the  form  of 

"the  swan,"  beautiful  in  its  whiteness  and  its  graceful  glid- 
ing, and  the  "dragon"  launch,  the  bright-colored  "peacock" 
launch,  with  its  wide-spreading  tail,  so  attractive  with  the 
electric  lights  thrown  upon  it.  All  this  makes  one  sit  and 
wonder  if  this  is  really  all  real,  or  if  one  is  in  dreamland. 
An  evening  with  the  stars  above  and  the  stars  below,  around, 


LOUISIANA  PURCHASE  MONUMENT, 
WORLD'S  FAIR,  ST.  Louis 


MASTER    ST.  ELMO  131 

and  about  the  "Cascades  and  Hall  of  Festivals"  is  a  picture 
never  to  be  forgotten.  It  is  stated  that  one  million  dollars 
was  the  cost  of  this  great  central  spectacle  known  as  "Cas- 
cade Gardens,"  and  it  is  said  that  the  water  is  brought 
seven  miles  from  the  Mississippi  River  to  supply  the  foun- 
tains and  the  lagoons  and  the  "Grand  Basin"  in  front  of  the 
imposing  monument  of  the  "Fair,"  the  "Louisiana  Pur- 
chase Monument." 

The  Palace  of  Agriculture  is  indeed  a  fine  building.  It 
occupies  more  than  eighteen  acres,  and  is  five  hundred  feet 
wide  and  one  thousand  six  hundred  feet  long,  with  a  cornice 
line  fifty  feet  high,  it  being  the  largest  exposition  building  ever 
erected  for  a  single  department.  It  has  a  conspicuous 
site,  for,  standing  on  the  hill  in  the  western  part  of  the 
grounds,  it  looks  down  upon  nearly  all  the  other  palatial 
buildings.  This  is  a  very  interesting  exhibit,  comprising  the 
needs  of  every  boy  and  girl.  The  exhibits  of  corn  are  fine, 
as  well  as  those  of  rice,  sugar,  beets,  tobacco,  etc.,  showing 
the  varieties  and  best  of  each.  The  Missouri  State  exhibit 
is  very  fine,  and  the  pictures  portraying  farm-life  are  so  real 
that  I  shall  try  to  describe  two  pictures  to  you,  dear  chil- 
dren. These  are  about  forty  feet  long  and  twenty  feet 
high,  and  are  the  largest  grain  pictures  ever  made.  One 
of  these  pictures  portrays  a  farm  in  Missouri  with  a  wheat- 
field  in  which  binders,  made  of  wheat,  are  in  operation. 
Then  there  is  a  pasture  scene,  with  a  herd  of  high-class  cattle 
grazing  near  a  stream.  It  is  an  ideal  sketch.  The  cattle 
are  made  of  corn-silk,  cotton,  and  wool ;  the  horns  are  made  of 
corn-husks.  The  pasture  is  of  real  dried  grass;  the  road  of 
timothy  seed;  the  fence  of  cornstalks.  In  the  background 
the  trees  are  of  sorghum-heads,  while  those  in  the  foreground 
are  actual  trees ;  the  meadow  is  of  grass  and  the  foreground  is 
of  wheat,  with  a  miniature  mower  operating  in  front  of  the 
picture,  with  the  grass  falling  in  front  and  rising  as  it  passes 
by.  This  wonderful  painting  (for  in  color  blending  and 


132  MASTER   ST.  ELMO 

beauty  it  is  as  much  a  work  of  art  as  is  a  painting  in  oil)  is 
made  from  nature's  own  growth,  and  is  one  of  the  best 
studies  of  art  that  the  great  "Fair"  gives  to  the  lovers  of  art. 
It  received  one  of  the  highest  compliments  which  could  be 
given  to  it.  Some  flying  squirrels  got  out  of  their  cages  and 
took  refuge  in  the  trees,  and  built  a  nest  in  the  fork  of  the 
front  tree  and  made  themselves  a  comfortable  home,  think- 
ing that  they  were  back  once  more  on  the  dear  old  farm. 
The  nest  you  can  see  in  the  grain  picture.  When  you  stop 
to  think  that  every  bit  of  these  tiny  grasses  is  tacked  or 
glued  on  this  big  board,  and  that  it  is  done  so  neatly  that 
you  cannot  see  how  it  is  put  together,  you  will  surely  agree 
with  me  that  this  is  a  wonderful  display  of  art. 

The  second  grain  picture,  quite  as  large  as  the  first,  is 
an  accurate  reproduction  from  a  photograph,  showing  a  six 
thousand  acre  corn-field,  with  cultivators  to  till  one  thou- 
sand acres  of  corn  a  day.  I  am  told  that  this  farmer  raises 
more  corn  than  nine  whole  states  raise,  and  that  this  is  the 
largest  farm  of  its  kind  in  the  world.  The  picture  is  made 
about  the  same  as  the  one  described  to  you,  and  shows 
seventy-two  men,  seventy-two  cultivators,  and  two  hundred 
and  sixteen  horses  and  the  owner,  the  gentleman  who  is 
eighty-one  years  old,  in  the  foreground,  all  made  of  corn- 
silks,  corn-shucks,  and  other  materials,  the  products  of  the 
cornfield.  It  is  said  that  when  the  owner  viewed  this 
picture,  he  could  pick  out  each  of  his  men  and  call  him 
by  name,  the  likeness  was  so  nearly  perfect.  This  picture 
was  copied  from  a  photograph,  and  the  artist  may  well  be 
proud  of  his  splendid  achievement. 

As  a  moral  lesson,  let  me  tell  you  about  this  able  farmer, 
and  see  if  you  little  children  do  not  respect  such  a  man. 
This  gentleman,  who  is  now  the  richest  farmer  in  Atchison 
County,  started  life  with  one  ox  and  a  wooden  plow.  For 
the  ox  he  owed,  and  the  wooden  plow  he  made  himself. 
He  persevered  in  growing  corn  and  in  raising  cattle,  until  he 


MASTER    ST.  ELMO  133 

has  nobly  come  to  the  front  as  one  of  the  largest  producers 
in  the  world.  He  has  founded  and  endowed  a  college,  and 
to-day  he  is  eighty-one  years  old,  a  highly  respected  citizen, 
independent  and  happy. 

The  Palace  of  Art  consists  of  pictures,  statues,  bronzes, 
and  of  the  paintings  of  great  artists,  together  with  pictures 
formed  of  Japanese  embroidery.  Each  country  is  splendidly 
represented  in  the  art  of  her  country,  and  the  French  pic- 
tures of  great  artists  are  very  fine.  (The  American  exhibit 
was  not  completed  when  I  attended  the  "Fair,"  so  I  shall  not 
be  able  to  tell  you  about  it,  but  like  all  other  American  enter- 
prises, I  am  sure  that  it  will  be  worthy  of  mention.) 

The  Palace  of  Education  contains  everything  pertaining 
to  studies,  books  of  all  classes,  exhibitions  of  the  workman- 
ship of  the  children  of  the  different  schools,  such  as  manual 
training,  beadwork,  basket-weaving,  house-building,  fancy 
work,  dressmaking,  drawings,  painting,  composicions,  kinder- 
garten work,  and  all  that  comes  in  the  line  of  education,  and 
many  of  the  exhibits  are  fine,  showing  what  little,  deft  fingers 
can  do  by  training  them.  No  doubt  that  some  of  you,  my 
readers,  have  contributed  to  this  splendid  exhibition. 

The  Palace  of  Manufactures  is  a  pleasing  piece  of  ar- 
chitecture, and  is  the  nearest  building  to  the  main  gateway. 
It  is  entered  under  a  grand  triumphal  arch.  This  structure 
contains  all  manner  of  dress  goods,  and  great  machines  by 
which  is  shown  the  mode  of  manufacturing  cotton,  silk,  and 
wool  goods;  also  all  styles  of  laces,  bric-a-brac,  jewelry,  furni- 
ture, rugs,  paper,  buckles,  buttons,  shoes,  clothing,  and  every- 
thing that  is  manufactured  over  all  the  world.  The  busy 
little  Japanese  have  an  extensive  and  most  praiseworthy 
exhibit,  having  marvelous  hand  carving  and  inlaid  work 
and  beautiful  vases. 

The  Italian  exhibit  is  also  very  fine,  with  its  bronzes  and 
marble  statues.  Other  exhibits  are  worthy  of  praise,  but 
my  space  is  limited. 


134  MASTER   ST.  ELMO 

The  Palace  of  Machinery  has  many  towers,  and  it  is  not 
only  a  handsome  building,  but  also  a  useful  one.  The 
building  contains  the  great  power  plant,  and  it  is  from  this 
that  all  the  power  for  lighting  the  buildings  and  pumping  the 
water  for  the  great  Cascades  is  controlled.  In  this  building 
may  be  seen  all  kinds  of  pumps,  farming  implements,  and 
machinery  used  in  every  part  of  the  world. 

The  Palace  of  Horticulture  is  a  neighbor  of  Agriculture, 
and  in  this  splendid  building  may  be  seen  all  the  palatable 
things  one  may  wish  to  eat — delicious  apples  and  fruits  of 
all  kinds;  also  beautiful  shrubbery,  palms,  and  flowers.  The 
large  fruits  of  California,  bottled  for  preservation,  are  most 
interesting  to  study.  I  forgot  to  tell  you  that  in  front  of  the 
Agricultural  Palace  is  a  large  clock  which  lies  flat  upon  the 
ground.  The  dial  is  made  of  flowers,  and  when  the  great 
hands  point  to  the  hour,  a  brass  bell  rings  out  the  time  of 
day;  the  bell  is  worked  by  machinery,  and  is  very  large, 
about  the  size  of  the  famous  "Liberty  Bell." 

The  Government  Fisheries  Pavilion  is  a  most  interesting 
place  to  visit.  All  species  of  fish  are  there  in  glass  aquariums 
alive  and  swimming  about,  and  with  the  electric  lights 
thrown  upon  the  water;  the  fish  look  very  pretty,  as  the  dif- 
ferent colors  show  so  well.  In  the  center  of  this  pavilion  is 
a  fountain  where  two  seals  enjoy  themselves  in  the  water, 
and  bask  in  the  sun  on  the  rocks.  Here  you  will  find  tiny 
fish  and  large  fish. 

The  Government  Building  is  most  attractive.  The 
dome  crowning  it  is  gilded,  and  is  ninety-three  feet  in  diam- 
eter, with  a  magnificent  group  statue  called  "Liberty-a- 
Quadriga"  surmounting  it.  This  is  the  conventional  style 
of  adornment  of  the  dome  of  such  a  building,  but  this  quad- 
riga, as  composed,  is  what  might  be  termed  an  unconven- 
tional spirit.  At  any  rate  it  has  a  certain  dash  and  freedom, 
which,  despite  the  adherence  to  traditional  forms  and  sym- 
bols, give  an  impression  of  originality  and  strength.  The 


MASTER   ST.  ELMO  135 

central  figure,  the  Goddess  of  Liberty,  stands  fourteen  feet 
high  in  the  chariot  in  which  she  is  drawn  by  four  colossal 
horses.  She  bears  a  torch  in  one  hand  and  an  eagle  in  the 
other.  The  horses  are  guided  by  two  nude  youths,  twelve 


STATUE  ON  GOVERNMENT  BUILDING,  "  LIBERTY-A-QUADRIGA  " 

feet  high,  whose  figures  express  the  vigor  and  energy  of 
early  manhood. 

The  interior  is  free  of  columns.  This  great  building  con- 
tains the  principal  exhibits  of  the  United  States  government. 
In  it  you  will  see  a  reproduction  of  our  "Man  of  War"  vessel, 
the  "government  mint,"  represented  in  working  order, 
cannons,  guns,  and  everything  pertaining  to  the  army  and 
the  navy. 

I  fear  that  I  cannot  do  justice  to  the  magnificent  Palace 


136  MASTER    ST.  ELMO 

of  Electricity.  It  is,  indeed,  a  palace,  and  fronting  upon  the 
"Grand  Basin,"  as  it  does,  surrounded  by  lagoons  and 
reached  by  artistic  bridges,  it  is  certainly  one  of  the  most 
fascinating  and  beautiful  places  that  I  have  ever  seen. 
Groups  of  columns  are  a  striking  feature  of  its  several 
facades,  and  at  night  when  it  is  sparkling  with  its  hundreds 
of  electric  lights,  it  is  a  coronet  excellent  enough  to  crown  any 
kingdom,  the  greatest  of  all,  our  own. 

I  could  write  a  book  upon  this  splendid  "Fair,"  but  as 
my  space  is  limited  I  shall  not  be  able  to  describe  all  the  fine 
buildings,  nor  the  plateau  of  states,  as  I  should  like  to  do. 
Therefore  with  a  little  description  of  the  state  represented, 
in  which  St.  Elmo  was  born,  I  shall  turn  the  rest  of  his  book 
over  to  him. 

The  commission  of  the  Texas  Building  extended  St.  Elmo 
an  invitation  to  register  in  his  state,  so,  with  his  mistress's 
assistance,  he  registered  "Master  St.  Elmo,  Chicago,  111.,  six 
years  old,  born  in  Texas,  1898." 

The  hostesses  introduced  him  to  the  guests,  and  he  was 
entertained  with  great  respect.  The  Texas  Building  is 
built  in  the  shape  of  a  star,  for,  as  you  children  know,  that 
Texas  is  the  "Lone  Star"  state.  It  is  very  beautiful.  1 
should  like  to  tell  you  all  about  the  different  state  buildings, 
for  they  are  all  attractive.  Each  one  is  original  and  ap- 
propriate, so  I  am  not  partial  towards  the  only  state  build- 
ing that  I  am  writing  about — but  Texas  happened  to  be  the 
birthplace  of  the  hero  of  this  book.  My  greatest  pleasure 
was  in  viewing  the  flags  of  all  nations,  and  in  feeling  that 
this  great  undertaking  had  brought  together  all  the  peoples 
of  the  world  in  peaceful  sympathy  and  love;  and  with  our 
own  beloved  flag  flying  on  every  building,  I  thought  that 
never  had  there  been  a  more  beautiful  picture,  nor  a  land- 
scape more  picturesque  than  this  land  of  little  hills,  with  its 
natural  scenery  and  artistic  arrangement  of  palaces  and 
lagoons.  With  the  star-lighted  canopy  of  blue  overhead, 


MASTER   ST.  ELMO 


137 


and  the  star-lighted  palaces  at  each  side,  I  felt  that  fairyland 
had  at  last  been  found  upon  this  earth.  Of  course  you  chil- 
dren have  been  taught  in  your  schools  what  a  "World's 
Fair"  is,  and  that  it  is  to  bring  together  all  the  peoples  of 
the  globe,  showing  their  different  products,  industries,  dress, 


TEXAS  BUILDING,  IN  THE  SHAPE  OF  A  STAR 

and  customs.  The  oddest  of  these  people  are  very  splendidly 
represented  on  what  is  termed  "The  Pike,"  in  the  grounds 
of  the  great  "Fair."  This  "Pike"  is  a  wide  street,  about 
a  mile  long,  on  each  side  of  which  are  buildings  and 
reproductions  of  towns  of  foreign  nations.  For  instance, 
there  are  before  your  eyes  the  "Streets  of  Cairo,"  showing 
the  Egyptians  in  native  costume,  with  their  camels  bedecked 
and  ready  to  take  you  for  a  ride.  Some  of  these  people  are 
educated,  and  some  can  talk  a  little  English,  while  all  seem  to 


138  MASTER   ST.  ELMO 

know  what  money  is,  and  look  for  compensation  for  every- 
thing that  they  do  for  you,  even  to  posing  for  their  pictures. 

Then  you  can  enter  the  city  of  "Jerusalem"  through  a 
gate.  This  city  is  surrounded  by  a  reproduction  of  the 
original  walls  of  that  ancient  city,  and  the  interior  is  built  as 
was  ancient  Jerusalem,  with  the  "Jaffa"  gate,  and  the  nar- 
row streets  and  the  old  places  of  abode  which  these  people 
occupied.  Jerusalem  is  not  on  "The  Pike,"  but  off  by  itself 
in  the  grounds  of  the  "Fair."  There  are  little  shop  windows, 
or  booths,  on  the  sides  of  the  streets  where  you  can  purchase 
souvenirs  of  their  handiwork. 

The  "Filipino  Village"  is  an  interesting  place  to  visit, 
especially  at  the  time  of  the  "drills,"  when  these  courteous 
little  dark-complexioned  Filipinos  perform  a  perfect  and 
interesting  drill,  marching  to  the  music  of  the  band,  com- 
posed of  Filipinos  who  play  upon  American  brass  horns 
and  instruments  of  music,  directed  by  one  of  our  American 
band  masters,  all  attired  in  the  United  States  army  dress. 
We  cannot  but  admire  the  willing,  progressive  boys  who, 
in  three  years  of  kindness  and  education  by  our  great 
United  States,  have  proved  suitable  and  faithful  bearers  of 
the  glorious  "Star-Spangled  Banner,"  which  they  cer- 
tainly feel  proud  to  wave  over  their  heads.  This  shows  what 
education  and  civilization  can  do  in  three  years.  Of  course 
the  savage  tribes  called  the  "Igorotes"  have  not,  as  yet,  been 
conquered,  but  there  is  a  space  allotted  for  these  people. 
The  "Igorotes"  remind  one  of  fine  bronze  statues,  as  their 
skin  is  polished  and  shaded  so  that  they  are  really  artistic 
from  that  point  of  view,  with  the  exception  of  their  faces. 
They  wear  no  clothes — only  a  girdle — and  it  is  said  that  they 
live  on  dog  meat;  but  I  trust  now,  that  as  we  have  them  in 
this  country,  they  will  soon  become  a  little  more  civilized. 
Their  music  is  of  the  kind  that  makes  you  wish  that  you 
were  deaf,  and  you  are  ready  to  pay  them  to  stop.  It  sounds 
very  much  like  that  made  by  little  white  Indians  when  they 


MASTER   ST.  ELMO  139 

are  pounding  on  dishpans  and  all  sorts  of  noisy  things. 
These  people  live  in  bungalows  with  a  kind  of  straw  for  the 
roof,  and  many  of  these  buildings  are  now  erected  in  the 
Filipino  village. 

I  trust  that  the  "Humane  Society"  will  prevent  them 
from  using  dog  meat  in  our  country,  for  it  is  sad  to  think 
that  man's  most  faithful  friend  is  slaughtered  for  food  by 
savages.  There  are  a  great  many  things  to  see  on  the 
"Pike,"  for  there  are  amusements  of  all  kinds  to  catch  the 
pennies.  Real  live  Indians,  too,  can  be  seen  daily  on  dress 
parade. 

There  is  an  Indian  village  on  the  Fair  Grounds,  and  one 
can  see  the  Indians  living  in  wigwams,  or  tepees,  and  cooking 
their  meals  out  of  doors  upon  stoves  made  of  stones. 

"The  Pike"  is  the  place  to  have  fun,  but  the  main  "Fair," 
with  the  beautiful  buildings  and  magnificent  architecture, 
with  the  lovely  rolling  grounds  of  its  park,  is  a  sight  that  I 
wish  all  children  could  see. 

The  Indian  school  is  a  credit  to  our  country,  as  it  shows 
what  we  have  done  to  better  the  Indians,  some  of  whom 
seem  willing  to  learn,  and  to  live  more  like  the  white  man. 
There  are  plenty  of  little  pappooses,  and  they  enjoy  being 
carried  around  on  their  mother's  backs.  Occasionally,  how- 
ever, one  sees  a  squaw  carrying  her  pappoose  on  her  arm, 
as  a  white  mother  does,  and  this  looks  strangely  out  of  place. 


CHAPTER  XXVIII 
BEAUTIFUL  JIM  KEY 

VALUED    AT    ONE    MILLION    DOLLARS 

It  gives  me  great  pleasure  to  introduce  to  my  little  read- 
ers, particularly  those  who  have  not  been  so  fortunate  as  to 
make  his  acquaintance,  this  remarkable  horse,  "Jim  Key," 
who  is  counted  among  the  wonders  of  these  days  of  progress 
and  education.  I  consider  it  a  great  privilege  to  tell  the 
history  of  this  famous  horse,  and  to  use  his  photograph,  pre- 
sented to  me  by  his  present  owner,  Mr.  A.  R.  Rogers,  of 
New  York  City.  Beautiful  Jim  Key.  is  now  thirteen  years 
old,  and  is  of  a  handsome  mahogany-bay  color,  of  the 
Arabian  type,  with  a  long  black  tail  and  mane.  He  has 
a  thoughtful  and  knowing  expression  in  his  black  eyes 
which  speaks  the  kindness  that  he  expresses  by  his  belonging 
to  the  '  Jim  Key  Band  of  Mercy."  This  Band  tries  to  ben- 
efit all  animals,  and  surely  "Jim  Key"  was  sent  here  to  help 
all  his  four-footed  friends.  You,  little  children,  who  read  this, 
can  each  belong  to  this  Band  of  Mercy  if  you  will  send  your 
name  to  Mr.  A.  R.  Rogers,  75  Maiden  Lane,  New  York  City, 
who  is  president  of  this  band,  or  to  Mr.  George  T.  Angell, 
president  of  "The  American  Humane  Education  Society," 
No.  19  Milk  Street,  Boston,  Mass.  The  pledge  to  this  Band 
is,  "I  will  try  to  be  kind  to  all  harmless  living  creatures,  and 
try  to  protect  them  from  cruel  usages."  If  you  will  send 
your  name  on  a  slip  of  paper  with  this  pledge  written  on  it, 
with  your  address,  it  will  be  pasted  on  the  great  banner  roll 
of  "Jim  Key  Band  of  Mercy."  Thousands  of  adults,  as 
well  as  300,000  children,  belong  to  this  band  now.  The 
humane  paper  called  "Our  Dumb  Animals,"  is  a  splendid 

140 


— 


"a  - 

J.  H 
§    H 


a  o 

j 

a 


MASTER   ST.  ELMO 


143 


journal  for  lovers  of  animals,  and  is  but  twenty-five  cents  a 
year.  It  is  certainly  helping  a  worthy  cause.  We  all  wish 
to  do  some  good  in  this  world,  and  by  aiding  the  helpless 
animals  we  are  surely  doing  a  work  of  charity,  as  they  can- 
not tell  their  troubles  to  us.  In  consequence,  they  are 
obliged  to  stand  the  hardships  of  life  unless  some  kind  person 
lends  a  helping  hand.  Beautiful  Jim  Key  was  born  in  Ten- 


Ol!R  hEDGE--!  PROMISE  -AtWAV    T,i  8£  KINO  10  ANlM.UJ. 


Jim  Key  Ba^nd  of  Mercy 


THIS    IS   TO  CERTITY   THAT 


N    396 


Ls  an  Honorary  Member  uf  tin; 

Natjpna!  Jim  KeyJJand  of  Mercy 

President. 


nessee,  and  was  faithfully  cared  for  by  his  old  master,  Dr. 
William  Key,  who,  although  nearly  seventy  years  old,  still 
exhibits  him.  These  two  have  been  constant  companions, 
and  it  is  a  touching  sight  to  see  the  love  between  this  good, 
kind  gentleman  and  his  trusting  horse.  "Jim"  showed  un- 
usual traits  from  the  time  that  he  was  a  colt,  for  he  would 
follow  his  master  around  as  a  dog  will  do,  and  he  was  so 
curious  to  see  and  to  know  what  everything  was  that  he  soon 
learned  how  to  do  many  things.  One  of  the  first  things  that 
he  learned,  and  he  taught  this  to  himself,  was  to  unfasten 
the  gate  and  let  himself  out  in  the  road.  His  master  began 


144  MASTER   ST.  ELMO 

to  teach  him  when  he  was  one  year  old.  To  me  he  is  a 
marvel  of  intellect,  and  I  shall  try  to  tell  you,  as  accurately 
as  possible,  about  his  knowledge  of  school. 

First.  Jim  opens  school,  that  is,  he  rings  the  bell  for 
school  to  open.  Jim  goes  to  his  little  trunk  and  pushes  up 
the  cover  with  his  nose,  takes  out  two  bells  by  the  handles, 
and  holding  them  tightly  in  his  mouth,  he  shakes  them  while 
walking  around  the  stage,  and  so  he  rings  his  class  to  order. 

Second.  Jim  picks  out  any  letter  of  the  alphabet,  play- 
ing-card, or  number  asked  for.  On  a  tall  rack  behind  him 
are  alphabetically  arranged  all  the  letters  on  wrhite  paste- 
board cards,  about  the  size  of  a  playing  card,  with  each  letter 
printed  in  large  black  type;  and  when  any  one  in  the 
audience  asks  him  for  a  letter,  he  walks  to  this  rack  and  with 
his  mouth  gently  takes  the  one  asked  for,  and  brings  it  right 
side  up  to  the  front  of  the  stage.  He  likes  applause;  so  one 
must  always  remember  that  and  give  him  plenty  of  hand- 
clapping,  as  he  deserves  more  than  any  two  hands  can 
give  him. 

Third.  Jim  shows  his  proficiency  in  figuring,  adding, 
multiplying,  dividing,  and  subtracting  in  any  numbers  below 
thirty.  This  is  really  the  most  marvelous  test  of  horse  intel- 
lect that  I  ever  have  seen  performed.  The  numbers  are 
arranged  on  a  rack  in  a  similar  way  to  the  letters,  beginning 
with  No.  1,  and  all  the  numbers  are  in  large,  black  type 
so  they  can  be  seen  in  the  back  of  the  room.  You  can  give 
him  any  example  you  wish,  using  numbers  that  will  not  bring 
your  answer  above  thirty,  and  he  will  surprise  you  by  bring- 
ing to  the  front  of  the  platform  in  his  mouth  the  card  on 
which  is  your  answer,  sometimes  before  you  can  ascer- 
tain it  yourself.  And  he  knows  in  a  second  that  you  cannot 
subtract  a  larger  number  from  a  smaller  one,  for  he  always 
shakes  his  head  to  signify  that  it  cannot  be  done.  I  myself 
asked  him  to  subtract  four  from  three,  and  in  an  instant  his 
head  was  shaking  "No."  Again,  I  asked  him  to  bring  this 


MASTER   ST.  ELMO  145 

answer,  "two  plus  three,  multiply  by  six,"  and  he  brought 
out  the  number  for  the  answer,  thirty;  and  again,  I  said,  "two 
plus  three  plus  five  plus  eight,"  and  he  returned  to  the  front 
with  eighteen.  And  one  example,  which  a  man  gave  him, 
had  to  be  put  down  on  paper  before  I  could  get  the  answer. 
Jim  had  it  first,  and  it  was  this,  and  I  am  sure  that  any  of  you 
thirteen-year-old  children  will  be  obliged  either  to  put  the 
numbers  down,  or  to  go  over  them  more  than  once.  Just 
think  of  a  horse's  figuring  out  this  example :  "Three  times  ten, 
divided  by  two,  plus  five,  divided  by  two,  minus  ten,"  and  the 
fine  calculator  came  to  the  front  with  zero  card  for  his 
answer.  Was  he  correct  ?  I  attended  three  different  days, 
and  no  two  questions  were  given  him  the  same,  so  I  feel  con- 
vinced that  this  wonderful  horse  has  intellect  which  is  be- 
yond animals. 

Fourth.  Jim  spells  any  ordinary  name  asked  him.  A 
long  spindle,  having  a  thin  nickel  rail  with  a  slit  along  the 
top,  is  placed  in  the  front  of  the  platform,  and  names  were 
given  him  to  spell,  such  as  chair,  James,  Carrie,  and  a  hard 
name,  "Carey,"  which  was  a  little  boy's  name.  When  I 
heard  the  child  sing  out  "Carey,"  I  myself  wondered  whether 
it  was  spelt  with  an  "e"  or  whether  it  was  "Gary";  but  Jim 
knew  at  once,  and  went  to  the  rack  and  brought  each  letter 
forward,  one  at  a  time,  until  he  had  the  five  letters.  Then 
he  stood  still  for  the  little  boy  to  tell  him  whether  he  was 
correct,  and  he  was;  and  you  well  know  that  it  is  not  a  com- 
mon name.  I  was  really  surprised  and  delighted. 

Fifth.     He  reads  and  writes. 

Sixth.  Jim  goes  to  the  postoffice,  gets  the  mail  from  any 
box  requested,  and  files  the  letter  in  a  regular  letter-file  under 
any  letter  asked  him.  This  is  a  wonderful  piece  of  calcula- 
tion also.  A  letter  section  is  arranged  with  numbers  on, 
and  letters  of  the  alphabet  are  on  the  lower  edges  of  each 
pigeon-hole  which  contains  mail.  When  you  ask  him  to  get 
your  mail  from  "M"  box,  he  takes  the  letter  with  his  mouth 


146  MASTER   ST.  ELMO 

out  of  the  place,  and  walks  across  the  stage  and  lays  the 
letter  upon  the  shelf  of  his  desk  or  letter-file,  and  waits  until 
he  is  told  where  to  file  it;  then  he  pulls  out  the  drawer  and 
takes  up  the  letter,  drops  it  in  the  drawer  and  closes  it, 
and  after  he  has  answered  as  many  of  these  requests  as  you 
wish,  he  pulls  down  the  outside  cover  of  the  tier  of  files, 
which  closes  up  his  desk  for  that  performance. 

Seventh.  Jim  distinguishes  various  pieces  of  money,  and 
goes  to  a  cash  register  and  rings  up  any  amount  asked  for, 
bringing  the  correct  change.  Now,  this  is  another  mark  of 
his  great  knowledge.  If  you  ask  him  to  get  a  dollar  bill,  he 
goes  to  the  register,  pulls  open  the  drawer,  and  takes  out  the 
dollar  bill,  or  he  will  bring  a  silver  dollar,  a  half-dollar, 
quarter,  or  even  a  nickel  out  of  his  register,  and  when  he 
comes  to  the  front  of  the  stage  he  holds  the  money  between 
his  handsome  teeth,  and  grins  so  that  you  can  see  the  money; 
and  his  master  will  say,  "Grin,  Jim,"  and  Jim  really  grins. 

Eighth.  Gives  quotations  from  the  Bible,  where  the 
horse  is  mentioned,  giving  chapter  and  verse.  This  he  does 
by  choosing  from  his  assortment  of  names  on  the  racks  the 
exact  one  which  corresponds  with  the  Bible. 

Tenth.  Uses  the  telephone.  The  telephone  is  on  the 
wall,  and  he  walks  up  to  it,  takes  the  handle  in  his  mouth, 
and  turns  the  handle  around  so  that  you  can  hear  the  bell 
ring,  then  he  places  his  mouth  to  the  mouth-piece,  and  his 
master  takes  the  receiver  and  holds  it  to  his  ear.  When  his 
master  says  "good-by"  Jim  goes  back  to  his  place,  always 
facing  the  audience. 

Eleventh.  Jim  takes  a  silver  dollar  from  the  bottom  of  a 
glass  jar  filled  with  water,  without  drinking  a  drop.  (Con- 
sidered one  of  the  greatest  feats  ever  performed  by  an 
animal.)  This  glass  jar  holds  about  five  gallons  of  water, 
and  you  can  see  Jim  through  the  glass  picking  up  the  silver 
dollar,  never  sipping  a  drop.  When  he  holds  it  up  to  you 
and  grins,  his  face  is  wet  and  the  water  drips  down,  so  he 


MASTER   ST.  ELMO  147 

goes  to  his  little  trunk,  lifts  up  the  lid  with  his  nose,  and  takes 
out  a  fringed  towel,  which  he  gives  to  his  master  for  him  to 
wipe  his  face,  after  which  he  returns  the  towel  to  his  trunk, 
and  tucks  in  all  the  fringe.  He  has  so  many  friends  among 
the  ladies  and  children  that  sugar  and  towels  and  apples  are 
sent  him  as  presents,  and  one  lady  sent  him  some  fringed 
towels  tied  together  with  ribbons  and  embroidered  with  his 
name  in  one  corner.  Jim  is  very  fond  of  sugar  in  the  little 
cubes,  and  after  each  answer  he  receives  a  piece,  for  which 
he  is  always  ready,  looking  sidewise  for  his  reward.  I 
could  tell  you  some  other  lessons,  but  I  think  when  dear  Jim 
does  all  these  that  he  is  busy  enough.  I  hope  that  after  the 
little  readers  have  become  acquainted  with  this  wonderful 
horse,  they  will  think  of  him  always,  and  help  all  poor  ani- 
mals who  are  in  need  of  homes  and  kind  treatment,  and 
above  all  report  all  cases  which  they  may  see  of  abuse  of 
horses,  either  by  whipping  them  or  by  making  them  draw 
overloaded  wagons.  And  try  to  keep  water  in  your  yards 
for  the  dogs,  cats,  and  birds,  and  do  what  you  can  to  have 
watering-places  for  horses  in  the  streets.  All  this  will  help 
"Beautiful  Jim  Key"  in  his  work  of  befriending  animals, 
and  please  remember  that  this  educated  horse  was  taught 
by  kindness.  There  is  a  little  book  of  his  life  and  how  he 
was  taught,  which  one  can  buy  for  fifteen  cents  by  sending 
to  Mr.  A.  R.  Rogers,  75  Maiden  Lane,  New  York  City. 
Long  live  "Beautiful  Jim  Key." 

CARO  SENOUR. 


CHAPTER  XXIX 

Now,  I  am  going  to  talk  again,  for  my  mistress,  like  all 
the  ladies,  never  knows  when  to  stop  talking,  and  when  she 
gets  started  on  the  animal  question  some  one  has  to  say 
"mouse."  Well,  my  family  says  if  my  mistress  had  re- 
mained at  the  "World's  Fair"  much  longer,  she  would  either 
have  eloped  with  "Beautiful  Jim  Key"  or  have  joined  his 
performances,  as  she  said  she  would  go  to  see  him  every 
day,  and  would  spend  all  her  money  on  his  exhibitions,  for 
she  always  learned  something  from  him.  She  went  up  to 
him  and  put  her  arms  around  his  neck  and  kissed  him 
five  times,  and  Jim  seemed  to  like  it.  He  is  as  glossy  as  a 
piece  of  satin,  and  I  do  not  feel  a  bit  jealous  because  my 
mistress  admires  him  so  much.  He  is  a  noble  horse,  and 
I,  with  my  mistress,  love  and  respect  "Beautiful  Jim  Key." 

Now  that  my  mistress  has  told  you  her  side  of  the  great 
World's  Fair  Exposition,  I  shall  give  you  the  funny  side  of 
it,  which  always  interests  me,  as  I  am  a  good  fellow  to  see  a 
joke.  1  wondered  why  my  mistress  and  my  cousin  "Bert" 
kept  the  "Pike"  visit  for  the  last,  but  after  I  had  been  on 
the  "Pike"  for  five  minutes  I  understood,  for,  after  you  once 
land  there,  it  is  almost  impossible  to  get  away,  as  there  are 
so  very  many  curious  people  and  things  to  see. 

The  music  of  the  'Streets  of  Cairo"  was  maddening  to 
most  people,  but  I  enjoyed  it  so  much  that  I  went  right  up 
to  the  funny  drum  and  wanted  to  investigate  it,  which  made 
the  men  of  Egypt  laugh  while  they  tried  to  blow  their  horns, 
and  the  louder  the  noise  the  more  fun  I  had.  The  man  at 
the  door  invited  me  in,  and  I  was  about  to  accept  his  invita- 
tion when  I  peeped  through  the  big  gateway  and  saw  a  moun- 
tain raising  itself  out  of  the  ground,  which  made  me  look  up 

148 


MASTER   ST.  ELMO  149 

so  high  that  it  tired  my  neck;  so  I  backed  out,  and  after  two  or 
three  of  these  four-footed  mountains  with  sharp  peaks  arose, 
I  saw  that  each  one  had  four  feet,  one  long  neck,  and  a 
wiggling  head.  Then  the  man  said,  "Come  and  ride  the 
camel,"  and  I  finally  grasped  the  idea,  and  felt  ashamed 
that  I  had  not  recognized  one  of  my  four-footed  "national- 
ities." We  thanked  him  and  passed  on.  We  took  a  picture 
of  the  big  seven-foot  Arab  on  his  camel;  and  the  camel  was 
like  me,  it  being  so  long  that  its  head  could  not  get  on  the 
plate,  so  I  am  sorry  not  to  be  able  to  show  you  the  picture, 
but  he  did  have  a  head.  But  my !  if  I  just  had  its  long  neck, 
couldn't  I  see  everything  ?  You  see,  we  are  different,  that 
is,  a  camel  has  a  long  neck  and  short  tail,  and  I  have  a  long 
tail  and  short  neck,  so  it  is  not  evenly  divided.  I  was  sorry 
that  "Dan"  was  not  with  me,  but  inasmuch  as  the  "Fair"  is 
closed  to  dogs,  he  has  been  able  only  to  peek  through  the 
high  fence  and  has  missed  lots  of  fun.  Just  think,  poor 
"Klondyke"  can't  see  the  "Pike"  either,  and  it  is  a  great 
neglect  in  one's  education  not  to  "do  the  Pike." 

The  next  funny  thing  that  we  witnessed  was  performed 
by  a  real  live  Indian,  dressed  up  in  blankets,  feathers,  and 
all  color  complexion  washes.  He  certainly  had  just  been 
to  a  "beauty  parlor."  Well,  he  was  a  picture,  and  I  was 
thankful  that  he  was  not  my  master.  He  was  a  monster, 
and  when  I  first  gazed  upon  him  he  was  bending  over  a 
letter-box,  holding  a  letter  in  his  right  hand  and  his  blanket 
tightly  grasped  in  his  left  hand.  He  was  looking  for  the 
place  in  which  to  put  the  letter,  and  it  was  a  sight  to  see  his 
frozen  face  change  when  my  cousin  "Bert"  opened  the  lift  for 
him  and  showed  him  how  to  post  his  letter.  But  the  "smile 
that  won't  come  off  "  was  certainly  fastened  to  his  face,  and 
I  feared  that  I  had  lost  my  dear  cousin  "Bert,"  for  the  Indian 
seemed  perfectly  fascinated  with  her,  and  her  ability  to  open 
that  letter-box. 

After  this  we  went  again  to  see  "Beautiful  Jim  Key," 


150  MASTER  ST.  ELMO 

and  I  was  "passed  in"  there  and  invited  to  take  a  front  seat, 
and  see  the  wonderful  horse.  I  sat  on  a  chair,  and  was  very 
much  interested  in  his  school  training,  but  I  think,  to  tell  the 
truth,  that  I  was  more  interested  in  the  sugar  that  was  given 
him  after  each  answer.  I  did  lie  down  on  the  floor  a  while 
when  he  was  doing  the  fine  spelling,  which  is  beyond  my 
education,  but  the  ringing  of  the  bells  and  the  telephoning, 
also  the  fishing  in  the  glass  jar  for  the  silver  dollar  and  the 
wiping  of  his  face  with  a  fringed  towel,  then  putting  the 
towel  away  in  his  little  trunk,  all  this  really  puzzled  me,  and 
I  remained  quiet  all  through  the  entertainment.  I  want  to 
tell  you  here  that  during  all  those  six  hours  at  "The  Fair'5 
I  never  barked  or  growled  once,  but  there  were  many  things 
which  I  was  anxious  to  express  my  feelings  about,  but  I  re- 
membered my  lecture  in  the  morning  before  coming,  and 
I  wanted  to  be  invited  again,  so  I  was  good.  I  was  a  little 
bit  afraid  of  a  peculiar  looking  man  who  stood  in  front  of 
this  place  and  attracted  the  crowds,  for  he  was  dressed  in 
loose  white  and  red  humpty-dumpty  clothes  with  a  tiny  hat 
on  one  side  of  his  head.  He  made  me  shake  until  I  found 
out  he  was  just  in  play,  and  that  his  business  name  was 
"Clown." 

I  think  that  I  enjoyed  the  ride  around  the  grounds  on  the 
"Intramural"  electric  railroad  about  the  best,  for  I  saw  all 
the  buildings  and  the  grounds,  and  I  had  a  whole  seat  to  my- 
self and  a  large  open  window  to  look  through,  so  that  was 
solid  comfort.  The  Indians  were  preparing  their  supper 
out  of  doors,  and  the  pappooses  were  strapped  to  their 
mothers'  backs,  and  some,  large  enough  to  walk  around, 
were  playing,  and  were  not  overburdened  with  clothes.  I 
saw  one  little  fellow  run  up  and  knock  his  friend  down  with 
his  fist,  and  the  "downed"  fellow  returned  the  compliment 
by  picking  up  his  mother's  wooden  ladle  and  gently  landing 
it  upon  his  companion's  head.  His  mother  rushed  out  and 
picked  up  her  ladle  from  the  dirt,  spanked  her  darling  with 


MASTER   ST.  ELMO  151 

it,  then  placed  it  in  the  kettle  to  dish  out  the  soup.  It  is 
convenient  for  the  mothers  to  be  able  to  use  one  utensil  for 
all  the  necessities  of  the  camp,  and  as  they  have  no  slippers, 
as  our  mamas  have,  a  spoon  is  very  handy. 

The  little  savage  Filipinos  are  rather  fascinating  little 
children  to  watch.  They  are  dark  in  color,  with  black 
woolly  (I  should  say  naturally  curly)  hair,  standing  up 
bushy  all  around  their  little  black  faces.  My  mistress  tried 
for  fifteen  minutes  to  get  a  snap-shot  at  them,  but  the  cun- 
ning little  chaps  would  hide  as  soon  as  she  would  lift  the 
kodak,  and  peep  out  from  around  the  corner  of  their  bunga- 
lows. 

Another  good  exhibition  on  the  ' '  Pike ' '  is  the  ' '  trained 
animals"  exhibit.  These  animals  are  all  wonderfully 
trained,  such  as  the  seals,  lions,  tigers,  and  other  wild  ani- 
mals. The  seals  really  perform  extraordinary  feats.  They 
play  on  brass  instruments,  such  as  cymbals,  and  beat  the 
drums,  and  balance  balls  upon  their  noses,  and  do  many 
clever  tricks,  and  they  seem  very  willing  to  perform. 

The  wild  animals  in  the  cages  do  fine  tricks.  This  is 
just  the  place  for  children  to  enjoy  themselves. 

I  could  tell  you  many  other  good  things  at  this  exhibi- 
tion, but  time  and  space  prevent.  However,  I  must  say  in 
closing  this  chapter  that  my  family  thinks  the  "World's 
Fair"  at  St.  Louis  a  great  success,  and  a  beautiful  picture 
never  to  be  forgotten.  For  myself  I  thank  all  the  kind 
people  of  that  hospitable  city  who  added  so  greatly  to  my 
happiness  and  who  have  contributed  so  much  interesting 
matter  for  my  book.  I  wish  this  great  exposition  every  pos- 
sible success,  and  I  say,  ' '  Long  live  dear,  old  St.  Louis. ' ' 


CHAPTER  XXX 

I  suppose  you  boys  have  wondered  whether  I  have  a 
' '  pedigree. ' '  Well,  1  have  a  pedigree,  and  one  that  I  am 
very  proud  of,  and  that  pedigree  is  the  honor  of  being  born 
in  the  United  States  of  America;  and  that  is  a  pedigree 
worthy  to  possess.  Well!  I  have  a  "dog-pedigree"  in  the 
'Lone  Star"  state,  and  we  could  get  it  of  course,  but  my 
mistress  says  that  I  am  not  a  ' '  dog-show-dog, ' '  and  that  I 
require  no  outline  as  to  my  ancestors  for  I  am  her  pet  and 
not  her  * 'show-dog,"  and  what  I  do  to  please  the  children 
I  do  for  love.  My  mistress  also  says  that  my  ancestors 
were  of  course  English,  but  that  all  my  ancestral  country  is 
lost  track  of  in  my  American  democratic  life  and  ways.  I 
am  an  American,  and  that  is  all  any  true  American  need  say. 

I  hope  you  will  not  think  it  egotistical  in  me  to  say  so 
here,  but  my  mistress  told  some  friends  the  other  day  that 
after  all  the  courtesies  and  honors  shown  St.  Elmo,  he  is  the 
same  sweet,  kind  dog  to  the  poor  forlorn  dogs  and  children 
as  he  was  when  a  little  Kansas  ' '  bow-wow. ' '  I  merely  tell 
you  this  to  say  that  whatever  our  advantages  are  over  others 
we  should  always  remember  to  be  natural,  never  to  show  our 
superior  position,  and  in  this  way  we  shall  be  loved  and 
shall  make  others  happy. 

I  thank  my  little  readers  for  their  kind  attention,  and 
sincerely  hope  that  I  have  made  some  sweet  little  child 
happy  by  giving  to  him  or  to  her  the  true  happenings  of  my 
short  life,  and  if  I  have  done  any  good  by  writing  this  book 
in  behalf  of  my  animal  kingdom,  my  mission  will  have  been 
fulfilled;  and  once  more  I  wish  to  ask  you  all  to  remember 
my  motto,  then  I  shall  say  good -by  to  my  dear  little 
friends. 

152 


MASTER   ST.  ELMO  153 

'  By  being  kind  to  all  animals,  and  by  protecting  horses 
and  dogs,  you  are  befriending  man's  best  and  most  faithful 
friends."  Trustingly  yours, 

ST.  ELMO. 


MY  PLAYTHINGS 


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